"The art of painting cannot be truly judged save by such as are
themselves good painters; from others verily is it hidden even as a
strange tongue."[89]

Every "finely touched and gifted man" is not an artist; but every true
artist must, in some measure, be a finely touched and gifted man. There
is no necessity to limit the public addressed to those who themselves
produce: yet those who "can prove what they say with their hand" bring
credentials superior to those offered by any others,--although even
their judgment is not sure, as they may well represent a minority of
the true court of appeal which can never be brought together.

No doubt there is a judgment and a scale of values accepted as final by
each generation that gives any considerable attention to these
questions. AEsthetic appear to be exactly similar to religious
convictions. Those who are subject to them probably pass through many
successively, even though they all their lives hold to a certain fashion
which enables them to assert some obvious unity, like those who, in
religion, belong always to one sect. Yet if they were in a position to
analyse their emotions and leanings, no doubt very fundamental
contradictions would be discovered to disconcert them. Conviction and
enthusiasm in the arts and religion would seem to be the frame of mind
natural to those who assimilate, and are rendered productive by what
they study and admire. Convictions may never be wholly justifiable in
theory, but in practice when results are considered, it would seem that
no other frame of mind should escape censure.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 87: "Literary Remains of Albrecht Duerer," p. 244.]