The Concept of Beauty - Essay Example

Task The Concept of Beauty The concept or notion of beauty was explored and explained in ancient concepts, by Edmud Burke, Johann Winckelmann, Francois Blondel and Claude Perrault. Burke tended to contrast beauty ideology to the concept of the sublime, Blondel favored arbitrary beauty, and Winckelmann based the concept of beauty on ancient Greek philosophies, whereas Perrault espoused on arbitrary beauty in the trends of the modern world. According to Winckelmann, good tastes in natural beauty originated from ancient Greek. Natural beauty in the Greek land was defined as a product of the geniuses, with an exhibition of certain taste by the Greek artists that tended to borrow from nature without losing natural originality (Winckelmann, 1). According to Winckelmann, Greek painting and sculpture was not too preferred or admired. However, the few who admired had great taste, leading to the endorsement of the works of Correggio in making the windows that covered the royal stables in Stockholm (Winckelmann, 3). There was an endorsement of some foreign artists who introduced foreign designs such as the Saxony. These foreigners had great tastes in their work and incorporated natural beauty, leading to the endorsement of their works that led to their firm establishment in Greek land (Winckelmann, 3). The strategy of gathering and display of great international artworks was used in the perpetuation of art, though it was brought down by the great works of Greek art masters that were imitated by many other artists in their artworks and sculpture (Winckelmann, 5). Winckelmann describes nature as the source of the purest art that was further advanced by many artists to increase tastes and preferences. He termed these types of artists as lucky, thereby asserting that good tastes in natural beauty originated from ancient Greek nature and history (Winckelmann, 5). Winckelmann argues out that the only way for artists to improve on their tastes, and become inimitable, was by imitating the ancient Greek works that were naturalistic. Artists such as Raphael, Poussin and Michelangelo used the ancients as sources in partaking good tastes (Winckelmann, 5). He asserts that the relationship between an ancient Roman statue and a Greek original as similar to the imitation of Homer’s Nausicaa by Virgil (Winckelmann, 5). This is portrayal of the perfect rules of art. Winckelmann emphasizes that there are clear negligence in any of the works by Greek artists, such as the addition of the dolphin to Medicean Venus combined with the playing children (Winckelmann, 7). Connoisseurs and imitators describe nature beauty as the most beautiful in the Greek masterpieces with some perfect additional forms of beauty (Winckelmann, 7). The ancient artworks are described as made by the mind lone, as per the teachings of an ancient interpreter of Plato. Winckelmann described the most beautiful being resembled of the Greek body as it resembled his/her sibling (Winckelmann, 7). The design of the Greek clothing was in accordance to the formative beauty of nature (Winckelmann, 9). According to Burke, artistic tastes and preferences depend on the reasoning levels in each individual (Burke, 19). He stated that there is diversity in reasoning, on the concept of beauty, though there are standards of reasoning and taste that are similar in all human creatures. On Burke’s argument to contrast beauty ideology to the concept of the sublime, he beauty as taking a hold on reason, passion or taste in order to maintain ordinary or natural correspondents of life (Burke, 19). This meant the definition of the beauty concept as dependent on the truth or falsehood in the terms of natural beauty. According to Burke, there is the settlement of certain maxims of right reasoning in the most ignorant humans, in the terms of beauty tastes and preferences. There must be improvement of the rude science of ignorance by the learned, through a system (Burke, 20). Difference in opinion is considered to have no important consequences due to the logic of taste, and the ignorant levels. This means that the differences in opinion, in the terms of beauty, are considered to have insignificant consequences due to the taste principle, thereby neglecting the ignorance levels (Burke, 20). The definition of beauty is bound to be exact as per the taste principle, with the nature of the defined beauty representing an intertwined order of things or characteristics, to deliver a clear definition (Burke, 22). Taste is unique and diverse, and hence liable to confusion and uncertainty. The definition of beauty is, therefore, subject to investigation so as not to compromise on the taste of the definer. Burke emphasizes that individual taste depends on the literacy levels and perception, considering that there are natural powers of man that concur with external objects (designs and sculpture artwork) (Burke, 22). The perception of external objects is termed as same in all humans, due to the presence of sense, and hence there is satisfaction that light to one eye divulges light to another (Burke, 22). The human perceptions on beauty, therefore, follow senses and feelings, such as rough or smooth (Burke, 25). All the natural affections and qualities of the body are used in the definition of beauty. Skeptical reasoning has cast doubt on the perceptions on the beauty definition, where the representation of similar images by bodies raises questions. Perrault declared the controversial arbitrary and positive beauty in the 17th Century, in his analogy of arbitrary beauty and civil law (Burke, 25). He argues out that beauty definition was dependent on the theory of architectural expression. This architectural expression was based on culture as the main beauty definition concept, in the terms of principles, impacts and objectives of architectural work in the modern struggle for the definition of a secular basis of human artwork (Burke, 19). According to Perez-Gomez, architectural challenges can be resolved through conceptual tools, that is, geometry and numbers. The disclosure of the transcendental intentions in architecture conceptualizes on architectural history as a collection of material monuments, which is an obstruction to clarification of contemporary challenges in architecture (Burke, 25). Francois Blondel’s theory of architecture concurred with Perrault’s arguments and concepts on beauty through the repudiation of the rules of erudition and the corpus of Vitruvian commentary (Perez-Gomez, 10). However, Blondel refuted the theory of arbitrary beauty due to the increased tendency of sole reliability on talent and experience in architectural works (Perez-Gomez, 13). He believes and asserts that architects with high reputation think that everything is most beautiful in artistic work, and that the rules of theory only act as a hindrance (Perez-Gomez, 13). According to Blondel, reputed artists do not rely on the knowledge on artistic works or the rules of theory, but rather on the perception of arbitrary beauty where everything or being is most beautiful in artistic work (Perez-Gomez, 18). Works Cited Burke Edmund. Philosophical Inquiry into the origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful: with an Introductory Discourse Concerning Taste. New York, NY: Harper& Brothers Publishers. 1860. Print. Perez-Gomez Alberto. Architecture and Crisis of Modern Science. Cambridge: The MIT Press. 1983. Print. Winckelmann Johann. Reflections on the Imitation of Greek Works in Painting and Sculpture. Illinois: Open Court. 2013. Print. Read More