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Taste in Eighteenth-Century France by Rmy G. Saisselin

Review by: Robert Winston KretschThe Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, Vol. 24, No. 4 (Summer, 1966), pp. 596-597Published by: Wiley on behalf of The American Society for AestheticsStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/428786 .

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596prism of art, and we should (like the Greeks)contemplate history as drama and drama assomething which really happened.By cross-fertilizing philosophy with drania,religion, and history, Aylen has achieved thekind of flowing together of disparate experiencewhich in his view comprises the highest goal ofdrama, and which through his Christian existen-tialism offers novel perspectives on playwrightsboth ancient and modern. While Aylen mayforget that the "heroism" of modern man isachieved at least partly through technologicalaids, his comparison of existentialist individualswith the myth-enlightened Greeks marks a re-freshing example of that "return to the Greeks"which, especially since 1750, has fostered somuch of value in Western philosophy and art.

WILLIAM M. JOHNSTONUniversity of Massachusetts

SAISSELIN,EMYG. Taste in Eighteenth-CenturyFrance. Syracuse, Syracuse University Press,1965, pp. 161, $5.00.Essayist, critic, connoisseur, and a former cura-tor at the Cleveland Museum of Art, the authorof this perceptive book is at present Professor ofForeign and Comparative Literature at the Uni-versity of Rochester. A specialist in the Frencheighteenth century, and known for his writingson the fortunes of the honnete homme in theAge of Enlightenment, Dr. Saisselin is ideallyequipped to discuss the varied aspects of artistictaste in Voltaire's era.Warning us at the outset not to expect a con-ventional systematized study of aesthetic doc-trines, the author approaches his subject in aspirit of informality, evocative of the Frenchgentlemen amateurs he admires. At the risk ofoversimplifying, one may say that the book con-ceives the history of art in eighteenth-centuryFrance as a cyclical running battle, begun in theprevious century, and extending into the pres-ent. The struggle is waged, on the one hand,between the pedants who seek to impose ruleson art, or to derive rules from it, and the chev-aliers of taste, on the other hand, who main-tain that art springs not from rules but fromtalent.In the seventeenth century the battle tookthe form of the Quarrel of the Ancients andModerns, out of which taste emerged as theonly valid criterion of art and artists in anevolving Cartesian world. In the course of thatprolonged polemic the erudite but gentlemanlyFontenelle defended the integrity of art, mak-

596prism of art, and we should (like the Greeks)contemplate history as drama and drama assomething which really happened.By cross-fertilizing philosophy with drania,religion, and history, Aylen has achieved thekind of flowing together of disparate experiencewhich in his view comprises the highest goal ofdrama, and which through his Christian existen-tialism offers novel perspectives on playwrightsboth ancient and modern. While Aylen mayforget that the "heroism" of modern man isachieved at least partly through technologicalaids, his comparison of existentialist individualswith the myth-enlightened Greeks marks a re-freshing example of that "return to the Greeks"which, especially since 1750, has fostered somuch of value in Western philosophy and art.

WILLIAM M. JOHNSTONUniversity of Massachusetts

SAISSELIN,EMYG. Taste in Eighteenth-CenturyFrance. Syracuse, Syracuse University Press,1965, pp. 161, $5.00.Essayist, critic, connoisseur, and a former cura-tor at the Cleveland Museum of Art, the authorof this perceptive book is at present Professor ofForeign and Comparative Literature at the Uni-versity of Rochester. A specialist in the Frencheighteenth century, and known for his writingson the fortunes of the honnete homme in theAge of Enlightenment, Dr. Saisselin is ideallyequipped to discuss the varied aspects of artistictaste in Voltaire's era.Warning us at the outset not to expect a con-ventional systematized study of aesthetic doc-trines, the author approaches his subject in aspirit of informality, evocative of the Frenchgentlemen amateurs he admires. At the risk ofoversimplifying, one may say that the book con-ceives the history of art in eighteenth-centuryFrance as a cyclical running battle, begun in theprevious century, and extending into the pres-ent. The struggle is waged, on the one hand,between the pedants who seek to impose ruleson art, or to derive rules from it, and the chev-aliers of taste, on the other hand, who main-tain that art springs not from rules but fromtalent.In the seventeenth century the battle tookthe form of the Quarrel of the Ancients andModerns, out of which taste emerged as theonly valid criterion of art and artists in anevolving Cartesian world. In the course of thatprolonged polemic the erudite but gentlemanlyFontenelle defended the integrity of art, mak-

REVIEWSEVIEWSing clear the basic differences existing betweenthe arts and science; but La Motte-Houdar, D'-Alembert, and other rationalists sought to makeart a mere hand-maiden of science. Under theRegence, and during the reign of Louis XV,the gentlemen connoisseurs, the amateurs, andthe curieux gained ascendancy over the pedants,and their standard for judging painting-com-parative taste-evolved into the general GrandGout. For these hedonists the essential functionof art was to provide the "decor of life livedwith form." Boucher, Lemoyne, Natoire, andDetroy were the painters in vogue; chateauxbore such names as Sans Souci or Bagatelle; andthe art of love, practiced without tears, becamel'amour-gout.In considering the theorists of this age oftaste Saisselin does not limit his discussion solelyto the fairly well known ideas of Voltaire, or ofthe Abbes Du Bos and Batteux, but introducesus, interestingly, to highly perceptive thoughlittle known analysts of taste, such as Roger dePiles and Pierre Mariette. In general thesewriters shared Voltaire's conviction that art wasthe product of a few Grands Siecles-the erasof Pericles, Augustus, Leo X, and above all, theage of Louis XIV. The author, too, seems tofavor this view, and suggests that history itselfowes a debt to art: "... it was fascination forthe arts which led to an interest in the past towhich they belonged" (p. 83).With the passing of the honnete homme ofFontenelle's breed, and with the rise of academ-ism, neoclassic moralizing, and aesthetics, thepassion for rules again reared its head. Saisselindeplores the ultimate involvement of philos-ophers in artistic matters, believing that theo-rists, from Kant to Cassirer, have contributedlittle to our understanding of taste and beauty:in fact, "... aesthetics grew out of the attemptto discuss the fine arts and certain human feel-ings with an inappropriate language" (p. 75).And the author ends his book on a rather som-ber note as he contemplates the inroads intoartistic taste that have resulted from the "es-sentialist fallacy" of the German aestheticians,and the "naturalistic fallacy" of such morally-minded British empiricists as Lord Kames,Joseph Addison, Edmund Burke, and ArchibaldAlison.For the benefit of the general reader, Saisselinhas thoughtfully provided translations of allpassages quoted in French, and the appendedbibliographical notes offer valuable orientationto specialist and layman alike. The bookachieves a subtle and lucid analysis of aestheticattitudes during a vital moment in Western

ing clear the basic differences existing betweenthe arts and science; but La Motte-Houdar, D'-Alembert, and other rationalists sought to makeart a mere hand-maiden of science. Under theRegence, and during the reign of Louis XV,the gentlemen connoisseurs, the amateurs, andthe curieux gained ascendancy over the pedants,and their standard for judging painting-com-parative taste-evolved into the general GrandGout. For these hedonists the essential functionof art was to provide the "decor of life livedwith form." Boucher, Lemoyne, Natoire, andDetroy were the painters in vogue; chateauxbore such names as Sans Souci or Bagatelle; andthe art of love, practiced without tears, becamel'amour-gout.In considering the theorists of this age oftaste Saisselin does not limit his discussion solelyto the fairly well known ideas of Voltaire, or ofthe Abbes Du Bos and Batteux, but introducesus, interestingly, to highly perceptive thoughlittle known analysts of taste, such as Roger dePiles and Pierre Mariette. In general thesewriters shared Voltaire's conviction that art wasthe product of a few Grands Siecles-the erasof Pericles, Augustus, Leo X, and above all, theage of Louis XIV. The author, too, seems tofavor this view, and suggests that history itselfowes a debt to art: "... it was fascination forthe arts which led to an interest in the past towhich they belonged" (p. 83).With the passing of the honnete homme ofFontenelle's breed, and with the rise of academ-ism, neoclassic moralizing, and aesthetics, thepassion for rules again reared its head. Saisselindeplores the ultimate involvement of philos-ophers in artistic matters, believing that theo-rists, from Kant to Cassirer, have contributedlittle to our understanding of taste and beauty:in fact, "... aesthetics grew out of the attemptto discuss the fine arts and certain human feel-ings with an inappropriate language" (p. 75).And the author ends his book on a rather som-ber note as he contemplates the inroads intoartistic taste that have resulted from the "es-sentialist fallacy" of the German aestheticians,and the "naturalistic fallacy" of such morally-minded British empiricists as Lord Kames,Joseph Addison, Edmund Burke, and ArchibaldAlison.For the benefit of the general reader, Saisselinhas thoughtfully provided translations of allpassages quoted in French, and the appendedbibliographical notes offer valuable orientationto specialist and layman alike. The bookachieves a subtle and lucid analysis of aestheticattitudes during a vital moment in Western

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Reviewsthought, and it is recommended reading for allwho are on the side of taste.

ROBERT WINSTON KRETSCHPolytechnic Institute of Brooklyn

WASSERMAN, EARL R. Aspects of the EighteenthCentury. Baltimore, The Johns HopkinsPress, 1965, pp. 346, $7.00.WARNING, RAINER. Illusion und Wirklichkeit in"Tristram Shandy" und "Jacques Ie Fataliste."Munich, Wilhelm Fink Verlag, 1965, pp. 123,DM 19.80.SCHLEGEL, JOHANN ELIAS. On Imitation andOther Essays.Trans. and with an Introductionby Edward Alien McCormick. The Library of

Liberal Arts. Indianapolis, Bobbs-MerrillCompany, 1965, pp. 75, $1.25.These three works may be said to representthree aspects of present-day scholarship: 1)scholarship as reflective and considered erudi-tion; 2) scholarship as exhaustive problematics;3) scholarship as an aspect of total recovery. Thefirst is eminently readable, the second is readwith difficulty, and the third belongs to thetype of reading brought about by the paperbackrevolution: one wonders whether it is worthstarting the book at all since there are obviouslyso many other paperbacks of more attractivequalities about. The first may be read by gen-tlemen and scholars of leisure; the second byPh.D. candidates, and the third by graduatecaptive readers. Of their types all these worksare quite good. The first is a collection of ma-ture essays; the second is a most thorough in-vestigation in the problematics of two novels;and the last is a reprint of a forgotten work in-troduced by a competent and perhaps too longintroduction to the mimetic theory of art. Wesay too long because it was perhaps hardly neces-sary to go all the way back to Plato. All theseworks are connected with the eighteenth cen-tury, but it is the first work, the Aspects of theEighteenth Century, which is closest to that agein spirit through the urbanity and polish of someof the essays. The work by Warning is most re-moved from it because its style is of the aca-demic-thoroughness type, far removed from bothDiderot and Sterne. As for Schlegel, his is anauthentic piece of eighteenth-century Germancritical writing, but his definitions, repetitions,summaries, numbering of propositions and defi-nitions, his generally pedantic approach arereminiscent of seventeenth-century metaphysicalprose. However, Schlegel's writings, especiallyin their form and heaviness, serve as an excel-

Reviewsthought, and it is recommended reading for allwho are on the side of taste.

ROBERT WINSTON KRETSCHPolytechnic Institute of Brooklyn

WASSERMAN, EARL R. Aspects of the EighteenthCentury. Baltimore, The Johns HopkinsPress, 1965, pp. 346, $7.00.WARNING, RAINER. Illusion und Wirklichkeit in"Tristram Shandy" und "Jacques Ie Fataliste."Munich, Wilhelm Fink Verlag, 1965, pp. 123,DM 19.80.SCHLEGEL, JOHANN ELIAS. On Imitation andOther Essays.Trans. and with an Introductionby Edward Alien McCormick. The Library of

Liberal Arts. Indianapolis, Bobbs-MerrillCompany, 1965, pp. 75, $1.25.These three works may be said to representthree aspects of present-day scholarship: 1)scholarship as reflective and considered erudi-tion; 2) scholarship as exhaustive problematics;3) scholarship as an aspect of total recovery. Thefirst is eminently readable, the second is readwith difficulty, and the third belongs to thetype of reading brought about by the paperbackrevolution: one wonders whether it is worthstarting the book at all since there are obviouslyso many other paperbacks of more attractivequalities about. The first may be read by gen-tlemen and scholars of leisure; the second byPh.D. candidates, and the third by graduatecaptive readers. Of their types all these worksare quite good. The first is a collection of ma-ture essays; the second is a most thorough in-vestigation in the problematics of two novels;and the last is a reprint of a forgotten work in-troduced by a competent and perhaps too longintroduction to the mimetic theory of art. Wesay too long because it was perhaps hardly neces-sary to go all the way back to Plato. All theseworks are connected with the eighteenth cen-tury, but it is the first work, the Aspects of theEighteenth Century, which is closest to that agein spirit through the urbanity and polish of someof the essays. The work by Warning is most re-moved from it because its style is of the aca-demic-thoroughness type, far removed from bothDiderot and Sterne. As for Schlegel, his is anauthentic piece of eighteenth-century Germancritical writing, but his definitions, repetitions,summaries, numbering of propositions and defi-nitions, his generally pedantic approach arereminiscent of seventeenth-century metaphysicalprose. However, Schlegel's writings, especiallyin their form and heaviness, serve as an excel-

59797lent illustration of a point made by George Boasin the first of the three works discussed, that theeighteenth century was very diverse and that anage can hardly be abstracted from the men whomade it.

Aspects of the Eighteenth Century is a col-lection of thirteen essays by eminent scholarstreating various aspects of literature, the arts,music, science, and history. The latter area de-served more than only one essay, though the oneincluded, Alfred Cobban's "The Enlightenmentand the French Revolution," is excellent. Butthere are other historical problems to be dis-cussed to present a varied picture of the eight-eenth century. Indeed, while I read this bookwith pleasure, it now occurs to me in reviewingit that there were several aspects of the eight-eenth century left out, as well as a few majorfigures: The enlightened despots, Italy, and theUnited States (after all, a creation of that age)are not represented nor are Denmark, Sweden,Russia, Spain, and Portugal which present, byway of contrast and comparison, little known as-pects of the age and which might help us todelimit the area of the Enlightenment. Germanyis represented by an essay on one aspect ofGoethe and by a long essay on Herder by SirIsaiah Berlin. Philosophy is ably represented byJ. A. Passmore's "The Malleability of Man inEighteenth Century Thought." But of the majorfigures, Montesquieu, Dr. Johnson, Voltaire,Hume are absent. Rousseau is introduced by wayof Edward E. Lowinsky's excellent work on"Taste, Style and Ideology in Eighteenth-Cen-tury Music," an essay which does turn one's in-terest to a little known aspect of Rousseau, aname which also brings to mind that Switzer-land, which plays an important role as inter-mediary between cultures and languages at thistime, is also absent from this work. Who knows,perhaps the time has come to revive studies ofBodmer and Breitinger, Haller and von Muralt,to study such eighteenth century cities as Zurich,Geneva, Lausanne, and Neuchatel. The art ofpainting is introduced by way of criticism. JeanSeznec contributes an essay on "Diderot andHistorical Painting" and Rudolph Wittkowertreats of "Imitation, Eclecticism, and Genius.'?We can, however, think of alternatives whichwould be equally proper aspects of the age, andaspects perhaps more illuminating of the periodthan the inevitable theme of Diderot as artcritic. For example: Tiepolo, Maulpertsch, De-Troy, Lemoyne, and, in sculpture, is the eight-eenth century inseparable from Houdon? TheAmerican eighteenth century, for example,might well be conjured from the past by the

lent illustration of a point made by George Boasin the first of the three works discussed, that theeighteenth century was very diverse and that anage can hardly be abstracted from the men whomade it.Aspects of the Eighteenth Century is a col-lection of thirteen essays by eminent scholarstreating various aspects of literature, the arts,music, science, and history. The latter area de-served more than only one essay, though the oneincluded, Alfred Cobban's "The Enlightenmentand the French Revolution," is excellent. Butthere are other historical problems to be dis-cussed to present a varied picture of the eight-eenth century. Indeed, while I read this bookwith pleasure, it now occurs to me in reviewingit that there were several aspects of the eight-

eenth century left out, as well as a few majorfigures: The enlightened despots, Italy, and theUnited States (after all, a creation of that age)are not represented nor are Denmark, Sweden,Russia, Spain, and Portugal which present, byway of contrast and comparison, little known as-pects of the age and which might help us todelimit the area of the Enlightenment. Germanyis represented by an essay on one aspect ofGoethe and by a long essay on Herder by SirIsaiah Berlin. Philosophy is ably represented byJ. A. Passmore's "The Malleability of Man inEighteenth Century Thought." But of the majorfigures, Montesquieu, Dr. Johnson, Voltaire,Hume are absent. Rousseau is introduced by wayof Edward E. Lowinsky's excellent work on"Taste, Style and Ideology in Eighteenth-Cen-tury Music," an essay which does turn one's in-terest to a little known aspect of Rousseau, aname which also brings to mind that Switzer-land, which plays an important role as inter-mediary between cultures and languages at thistime, is also absent from this work. Who knows,perhaps the time has come to revive studies ofBodmer and Breitinger, Haller and von Muralt,to study such eighteenth century cities as Zurich,Geneva, Lausanne, and Neuchatel. The art ofpainting is introduced by way of criticism. JeanSeznec contributes an essay on "Diderot andHistorical Painting" and Rudolph Wittkowertreats of "Imitation, Eclecticism, and Genius.'?We can, however, think of alternatives whichwould be equally proper aspects of the age, andaspects perhaps more illuminating of the periodthan the inevitable theme of Diderot as artcritic. For example: Tiepolo, Maulpertsch, De-Troy, Lemoyne, and, in sculpture, is the eight-eenth century inseparable from Houdon? TheAmerican eighteenth century, for example,might well be conjured from the past by the

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