PREFACE TO SECOND EDITION.
THE preparation of the following work was suggested by the interested inquiries of a group of young people, concerning the productions and styles of the great masters of art, whose names only were familiar to them. The aim has been, to avoid on the one hand the dryness of the mere dictionary, and on the other, the anecdote and detail of biography; in a word, to present a brief account of the most eminent artists merely as artists, giving, at the same time, a view of the rise and progress of art in different countries. The principle of selection from the desultory fields of art literature, kept constantly in view, has been to admit little that has not a critical bearing, and thus a tendency to develope the taste. Many a volume has been rifled of every tangible and informing idea, while its details of mere narrative have necessarily, from the limits of the work designed, been almost wholly rejected. This element of the volume fits it especially for a text-book in schools, where it might advantageously precede the critical works of Kaimes, Alison and Burke, now in vogue; here theory is superseded by the analysis of artistic principles actually developed. The study of the book has been found to produce a decided improvement in the written compositions of the classes that have used it. Without cramping the mind with specific rules, it has served to awaken an insight into the primary laws of construction, which are the same in literature and art.