Individualism in Art and Artists: A Renaissance Problem Author(s): Rudolf Wittkower Reviewed work(s): Source: Journal of the History

of Ideas, Vol. 22, No. 3 (Jul. - Sep., 1961), pp. 291-302 Published by: University of Pennsylvania Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2708126 . Accessed: 09/07/2012 20:24
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INDIVIDUALISM IN ART AND ARTISTS: A RENAISSANCE PROBLEM

BY RUDOLF WITTKOWER * phenomyou of a present-day Let me startthis talk by reminding enon which many of us accept without much questioning.A joke on paper by Picasso, a doodle by Paul Klee are snatched up in the sales rooms for thousands of dollars. If explanationsare given, we hear-usually with a shrugof the shoulder-of a passing fashion,of of moneyinto worksof art, of the public,of the flight an infatuation and so forth. All this may be true,but it is also true that the joke on paper and the doodle hold our attention; they hold our attentionbecause we knowtheirauthorsare Picasso and Klee. Withoutthe pedigreeor hardlybe worththe paper theseworkswould sometimes the signature they are drawn on. It is the name that worksthe magic. Behind the name looms the about whomwe know so much,of whose genius man, the greatartist, we believe. Clearly,foran we are convinced,and in whose integrity appreciationof these works,a knowledgeof the artist'spersonality is more importantthan the visual evidence. Even thoughthe work may lack individualquality one cannotargue that the public deceives itself,since it evidentlyplaces the artistabove the work (of course, oftenwithoutbeing aware of it). on The very opposite also happened in history.Seneca reflected the sculptors people who veneratethe images of the gods but decry later Plutarch exclaimed: "We enjoy who make them. A generation the workand despisethe maker." These somewhat hackneyed observationsare of importancefor of my subject because it appears that the problemsof individualism related. in art are not necessarily reciprocally artistsand individualism I therefore want to separate these two aspects and discuss firstat some length when, where,and why the image of the individualist some phenomena artistarose and then mention,much more briefly, in art. of individualism whichwe may associate withspecial problems The criteriato assess these two sides of the inquiry are of an a socioorder,for the one problemis primarily essentiallydifferent the other primarilya visual one. On the logical and psychological, one hand, we have to ask what traits of personalitydid artistsdevelop, and what traits did the public attributeto artistsviewed as
* This paperwas presented of theInternational theFirstMeeting Society before Sept. 1, 1960. University, ofIdeas,heldat Peterhouse, Cambridge fortheHistory 291

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apartfrom, and superior to, therestof mankind (implicitly valuing the artist higher thanhis work); and on the other hand,whether at in someperiods thehistory of art one can detectindividualistic feanotoccurring at other in theworks tures periods ofartists.1 In orderto findout what artists thought about themselves and how the publicviewedthem,we have to relyon literary sources. Such sources theXVth century beginto flow onlyfrom on, and first exclusively in Italy. But a previous lack of this sortof literature does not necessarily mean that artistshad no individuality. Conevenwhere we versely, we have a literary tradition at our disposal, cannot be surethat,whatmight looklike individual and distinctive traits, are not,in fact, legends or literary topoi.Before thewarErnst Kris and Otto Kurz2 published an illuminating collection of such legends which had currency in theFar East and in theWestand may easilybe misread as personal characteristics by the uninitiated. When Pliny tells us that the sculptor Kallimachoswas nicknamedthe "niggler" becauseof his over-zealous application to detail,or Apollodorus the "madman" becausehe often brokeup a finishedstatuebeingunableto reachtheidealhe had aimedat, we may or may not be dealingwithfactualbiographical material. Nor can ofthepainter we be certain thatthesingle-minded devotion to work Protogenes took on the form transmitted to us. We are told that, in water "he livedon lupinssteeped whileengaged on hismainwork, thathe might without bluntsatisfy at oncehishunger and his thirst inghis faculties by over-indulgence." these and similarstoriesprove that the ancient Nevertheless, in any case at a late period,associatedcertainbehavioral world, In theeyesof an eliteat least,artists traits withartists. werelooked as "queerfish." upon,to use a colloquial term, It wasnotuntiltheXIVth century oftheextravathatthetheme gantbehavior of artists enters literature onceagain.In theDecameroneand theTuscannovelle oftheperiod theyappearmainly as the of entertaining perpetrators and burlesque practical jokes.For Bocof caccioa painter was a manfulloffun, high-spirited, quiteshrewd, And somewhat lax morals, and not burdened by too muchlearning. in one of Francesco Sacchetti's novelle, written in the late XIVth are all "You one a century, finds painter's wifeexclaiming: painters drunk whimsical, you build castlesin the air,you are permanently statement and arenotevenashamed Thisremarkable ofyourselves!" sounds likea prophetic but it shouldnot definition of thebohemian, us to arrive at weighty conclusions. tempt
1 Lack of knowledge compels me to restrict remarks to the visual the following artsin thewestern world. 2 E. Kris and 0. Kurz,Die Legende vomKiinstler (Vienna, 1934).

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matter if two hundred yearslater-to different It is an entirely the charin his De utilitate, listing in 1561-Cardanus, be precise, as painters men,described of a greatmanyprofessional acteristics manin their and changeable ofunsettled mind, melancholic, "fickle, In fact,the opinions. current reflected surely ners."His assessment of artistsfrom the odditiesand idiosyncrasies materialdescribing and helps to givesuband circumstantial on theRenaissance is vast dictum. stanceto Cardanus' which someobservations In support ofthisclaimI wantto submit at the artists among arising problems on personality light maythrow ofthe It wouldseemthatwiththebreaking timeoftheRenaissance. attithe artist's in the courseof the XVth century guildmonopoly to theregulated subjected Insteadofbeing changed.3 tudeto hiswork on his own and he was now often workshop, of a collective routine Periodsof mostinhabitscompatible withhis freedom. developed lapsesinto withunpredictable work alternate tenseand concentrated inactivity. on the Last Supper A contemporary who saw Leonardoworking from dawnto duskwithout howhe stayed on thescaffolding describes all the to eat and drink, painting forgetting downhis brush, putting or four dayshe wouldnottouchhis work time.Thenfortwo,three, two hours an hour,sometimes and yet be staying there, sometimes wouldset out Pontormo in contemplation. Similarly, a day wrapped "without havingdoneanything to work and go awayin the evening us. I need as Vasariinforms all day but standing lost in thought," examples. give more not Michelofmanyartists. thehallmark Solitude andsecrecy became angeloallowedno one-not eventhepope-to be nearhimwhilehe artists, let aloneother wouldrarely admitfriends, Tintoretto worked. one never should Rusticiexplained that to his studio.The sculptor it was finished. before Whythisinsistshowone'sworkto anybody in solitude? is not farto seek.Leaving The answer enceon creating and artistic it was the need forundisaside professional jealousies, At the threshold necessary. thatmade solitude turbed concentration talkedaboutthelooking-intooftheromantic age Goyapersuasively This attitudewouldseem a sure monologue. himself, the spiritual it appears To the outsider of individualism. a developed highly sign for by theelectfew. demand specialconsideration as theself-centered intotheproballowsus an insight MorethanonceMichelangelo in the lems thatmovedhim to the core.The essenceis contained a fragment: three linesofa sonnet thatremained
3 It is hardly was moreadvancedeven that Florence to emphasize necessary are thereartists Florentine thanthe restof Italy,notto speakof other countries. remarks. fore forthefollowing relevant particularly

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Non ha 1'habito intero Primaalcun,c'ha l'estremo Dell'arteet dellavita nonecan have understanding Entire theimmensity Before he'snotexperienced Of artand life That experiencecan only be gained in isolation.And isolationspells agony. is the red thread runningthroughmany of his letHis suffering he wroteto his father: ters.Alreadyas a youngman of twenty-two "Do not wonderif I have sometimeswrittenirritableletters,for I years often suffer great distressof mind and temper." And fifteen later: "I live in a sordid way, regardingneitherlife nor honorsthe greatest hardshipsand innumerable that is, the world-and suffer he reportsto Sebastiano del anxietiesand dreads." As a man of fifty Piombo about a dinnerparty: "This gave me exceedinggreatpleaure, or shall we call since it drewme fortha little frommy melancholy, he writesto a it my mad mood." Again, at the age of seventy-four friend: "You will say that I am old and mad (che io sia vecchio e pazo); but I answerthat thereis no betterway of keepingsane and freefromanxietythan being mad." At about the same period he put in a famoussonnet: the paradox differently e la maninconia La mia allegrez' E'1 mio ripososon questidisagi is myjoy Melancholy is myrest. Anddiscomfort The last quotations seem to leave no doubt that the agonized to an artistlike in self-reflection was a satisfying experience revelling Michelangelo.But it would be wrongto believe,as is oftendone, that Michelangelo was an exception.In actual fact, he has the traits of enhanced and to excess, which we findin a numberof personality, Renaissance artists. Michelangelo'schoice of the words "madness" and "melancholy" leads us on and I shall discuss them in turn. Madness not in the clinical but in a broadersense as emotionalinstabilityor behavioral is attributedin Renaissance and post-Renaissance non-conformity sourcesto scoresof artists.Oftentheyare called "bizarre" and "fantastic." in a historicalcontextis of this terminology An early occurrence chronicleof to be found in Girolamo Borselli's late XVth-century

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Bologna where the sculptorNiccolo dell'Arca is describedas "fanis perhapsbest tasticus (erat) et barbarusmoribus."Here fantasticus abound translatedas "eccentric."Later sources,Vasari in particular, behaviorof artists. withreportsof the eccentric The cases of Piero di Cosimo and Pontormo stand out among many others,but are too well known to need a lengthydiscussion. habits of the oddest kind. The essentialcorBoth had misanthropic rectnessof Vasari's reportis borne out by a diary which Pontormo of a lonely,introspective kept from1554-1556-a movingtestimony man, wrapped up in his thoughtsand beset by morbid worriesfor his physicalwell-being. In orderto give a cleareridea of this type of eccentricartist,I am choosingthe less familiarcase of Federico Barocci, who painted the most sensitiveand intensedevotionalpicturesat the end of the if ever there was one: he XVIth century.He was a hypochondriac by pains believed he had been poisoned in his youth,was tormented and frightful dreams,and felt that he could work only a very few hourseveryday. In spite of all this he died at the ripe age of eightyseven in 1615. The tenor of his lettersis that of an agonized eccentric.In 1573 he wroteto one of his patrons: you, willnotsatisfy I am sending which I knowforcertain youthepicture
And yet it has been born out of so because I am not pleased withit myself. I have suffered and still endureevery and tribulations which labors many I to I am mind beingso troubled, that can swear besides myself. My you day I was unable to consider well what I have done. But you will excuseme if I and my ill have not fulfilled your wishes,for it is the fault of misfortune whichwill always torment me. disposition

I have quoted thisletterverbatim, because it could have been written himself. by Michelangelo suffice it to say As to Michelangelo'sclaim of being melancholic, at the momentthat in this respecttoo he was not an exception.On on abound withrethe sourcesfromthe XVIth century the contrary, portsabout melancholyamong artists. us with some of the important This briefsurveyhas familiarized in the personality of Renaissance artists.Their approach distinctions with creative to workis characterized by franticactivityalternating their make-upby agonized introspection; pauses; theirpsychological endowment by a tendencyto melancholy; and their temperamental of an social behaviorby a cravingfor solitude and by eccentricities inbe able to talk of a to seem thus While we highly endlessvariety. dividualized professional type, we must not forgetthat our general

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pictureis derivedfromsuch markedindividualists as Leonardo, Michelangelo, Pontormo, Parmigianino, Barocci,and a number of minor stars. In addition, the question arisesto whatextent weretheseartists themand wrote aboutthemdethemselves and thosewhoobserved of thought? To whatextent pendent on newor traditional patterns theindividualized as wellas the weremodesofbehavior, wayof life, determined fashions traitsselected and by writers, by philosophical conventions? literary Where talksofhismadness and melancholy, his reMichelangelo actions be divorced from and his thoughts cannot Platonicand Aristotelian in the age of the concepts whichweregivenwidecurrency It is truethatMichelangelo Renaissance. by usingthe wordpazzia to characterize his stateof mindrefers to his non-conformist obsessionsrather thanto thePlatonic"madness." Yet suchalmostnarcissistic on pazzia wouldbe unthinkable without a familiarity emphasis withPlato's concept of puav(a by whichthe poetsand seersare possessed.It is well knownthat Renaissance artists appropriated this condition of inspired frenzy to themselves, forit gave theirart the aura Plato had conceded to poetry. Moreover, Aristotle had shown thatonlymenofmelancholic temwerecapable of 'manic'creativity. perament Michelangelo's pazzia and maninconia werethuscloselyallied conditions whichFicinoin De vita triplici forthemanof genius. had authoritatively postulated forartistic talentfrom theRenaisMelancholy becamethepassword said in the Anatomy sanceon,but as RobertBurton of Melancholy suchconfusion of1621: "theTowerofBabel never oftongues yielded doth of Symptoms," as the Chaos of Melancholy whilethe clearS. Teresasimply decreed:Melancholy headedmystic "is morecomis thatall self-will monin ourdaythanit usedto be; thereason and A perhaps too liberal license are nowcalledmelancholy." interpretaconclude standsherefor tionof thesewords thatmelancholy might individualism. in the XVIth century the term'melancholy' Although acquired in his detailedanalysis, manyshadesof meaning, Timothy Bright's came close to the generally acOn Melancholy of 1586,probably in a melancholic as "suspicious, ceptedusage.He described painful and terrible and circumspect; studies, givento fearful dreams;in affection and jealous... outofmeasure sad and fulloffear... envious thelightand passionate.... Of pace slow,silent, negligent, refusing This and obscurity." frequency ofmen,delighted morein solitariness marks homomelancholicus of the showsmanyof the distinguishing raceofindividualistic artists.

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thatthe one feelsboundto infer back on thisposition, Looking current would with which tally of personality traits developed artists or subconsciously writers and thatconsciously talent ideason creative accordingly. reports adjustedtheir in Renaissance artists to individualism Is thenthebreak-through of on Burckhardt's thesis depending myths a myth-oneofthemany in the age of theRenaissance? of theindividual the liberation another from angle.We know problem thistricky Let us approach and craftsmen architects, a greatmanynamesof medievalartists, theymaybe praised In documents and inscriptions. documents from illuszealous, admirable, excellent, wise, skilled, learned, as ingenious, in the inscriptions themasters Moreimportant, and so forth. trious, theirown and theirworks'excellence. proclaim themselves proudly boasted of Pisa Cathedral, the architect Thus about1063Rainaldus, a and magnificent structure; that he had executeda remarkable clarus, doctus, of Modena calls himself later,Lanfrancus generation it is clear suchinscriptions, one may interpret and aptus.However from in a classdistinct other crafts, work masters saw their thatthese thisqualityof uniqueIt was precisely as a uniqueaccomplishment. names.Can we doubtthat of their themention nessthatwarranted achievement? of individual sense a strong reflects thisattitude withthe social such an interpretation But how can we combine in the Middle Ages? It of artists and social standing organization becameall-powerful admittedly, which, wouldseemthatthe guilds, for influence, an equalizing exercised not untilthe XIIIth century, witha well regulated artists werede jure and de factocraftsmen have cometo Specialists dailyroutine. and a wellregulated training had believes thattheguildsystem conclusions: Coulton contradictory of the whileDoren,the historian on originality, a levelling effect with ofthesystem doesnotadmit anyinterference Guilds, Florentine of individualism. It is cerand manifestation the freedevelopment but it is just against tainlytruethatthe citybreedsindividualism, thatthepersonality craftsman oftheguild-controlled thebackground nature appearas of a revolutionary artists of Renaissance problems real. and emphatically bewas not liberated We mayhave to agreethatthe individual thathe exchanged causehe had notbeenfettered or,morecorrectly, thesis forthe old ones.WiththisprovisoBurckhardt's new fetters of thevisual validin thefield it remains remains valid.If anywhere, his Civilization from of theRenaisexcluded Burckhardt arts,which sance. thatthey artists of Renaissance achievement It is an undeniable octo thatofan intellectual thelevelofa mechanical raisedartfrom

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the artto science, theydrovea wedgebetween cupation. By allying owneyesand rosein their artsand thecrafts and,at thesametime, timetheartists oftheworld to thelevelofan elite.Forthefirst those And their artas an act of self-expression. werealso capableofseeing the modern conceptof geniusbelongsto a later period, although are born. For thefirst timein western aboundthatartists statements and acknowledged theartist theinitiated history publicbowedbefore was his special place in society. Michelangelo Duringhis lifetime of theblood.Neverbeand ranked abovetheprinces called"divine" been accorded to an artist. had suchhonors fore timetheartist's was It was also thenthatforthefirst personality de Hollanda,the placed above his art. In his DialoguesFrancisco 1538and 1540,makes whowas in Romebetween Portuguese painter had greater Vittoria Colonnasay thatthosewhoknewMichelangelo hiswork. Whether thisis rhetorical for hisperson thanfor esteem galillusor not,the factthat such an idea couldbe verbalized, lantry of the voltefaceand showsthatthe position on trates thedirection so soon. had beenreached I commented at thebeginning which freed from theprotective bondofthe Let me sumup: The artists, withtheir environment alone.Earlyin the guilds, facedthestruggle in Italy as an idiosyncratical profesXVIth century theyemerged who yet desionalcastewithimmensely strong leadingindividuals, forthem.The modern typeof prepared velopedalongthe grooves artist had comeintoexistence. of by the violence The reality of thisnewtypeis put intorelief it. As earlyas themiddle of the XVIth century thereaction against artistwith his foiblesand eccentricities the individualist was no It was nowfeltthatartists shouldunobtrusively 'fashionable.' longer to whom elite.Vasarihimself, merge withthesocialand intellectual in themostglowing ofextravagance was anathema, reports anyform the qualitiescommon among termsthat Raphael had superseded i.e. theirdetachment from and theireccentricity adreality artists, and uncouthness ("un certoche di pazzia e di mixedwithmadness At almostthe samemoment, the end of the 1540's, salvatichezza"). Francisco de Hollanda ascribes the following statement to Michelin orderto give it the weight of highest authority: angelo,surely lies about famouspainters. "People spreada thousandpernicious and unbearable, it is said, whilein fact They are strange, solitary, from other human beings. Onlysillypeoplebetheyarenotdifferent
e fantesiosos-eccentric lieve thattheyare fantasticos and capricious."

between 1550 and 1556. In his Dei veri precettidella pittura (1587)

The strongest and mostilluminating thepen stricture comes from of GiovanBattistaArmenini, whowas trained as a painter in Rome

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folkand amongcommon he writes:"An awfulhabithas developed of thata painter it seemsnatural to whom theeducated evenamong vice mustshowsignsof someuglyand nefarious distinction highest his from springing temperament and eccentric alliedwitha capricious believeto artists ignorant is thatmany Andtheworst mind. abstruse By and eccentricity." melancholy by affecting be veryexceptional and modern, ancient of greatand learned examples quoting masters, mustkeep to drivehomehis point "that artists intends Armenini nor extravagance, and of madness, uncouthness, thevices awayfrom nauseatand using disorderly by acting aimat originality should they inglanguage." type of or ratherproto-bohemian, the bohemian, Nevertheless, its counterby butit was nowovershadowed had cometo stay, artist thegentlevision-come-true: Alberti's far-sighted Leon Battista part, marked manners and impeccable whoseeasy deportment man artist, therising unthinkable without This type, himas a manoftheworld. whichhad their of the academies institution social and educational its antraced theXVIIth and theXIXth centuries, between heyday of Raphael. Duringlongperiods portrait to Vasari'sliterary cestry the upperhand.It was only academic typeretained the conforming era, the childof theromantic of thetruebohemian, withthearrival and the non-conforming typewas once thatthe tableswereturned againin theascendancy. from theencumbrance liberation for artist's fight The Renaissance forliberain theromantic artist's fight of the guildswas re-enacted as a memThe spectre oftheartist thetiesoftheacademy. tionfrom abovetherestof as a kindofbeingelevated berofa privileged group, in splendid isolation, and creating theworld from alienated mankind, as tookshape,fostered aroseonceagain: theimageof thebohemian of the society as by thereaction of the artists muchby thebehavior of whichtheylived.Thus we see at the turnof the on the fringe in the making under which, of personality problems XIXth century of the Italian Renaishad beset the artists kindred circumstances, of XXthindividualism the untrammelled sance. Paradoxically, social and their problems personality artists, avant-garde century the periodin the Italian Renaissance, from derived wereultimately scorn. of their on which theyheapedthefullness history I shall work. themento their from has cometo turn The moment seemto me ofa parwhich different herethree mention topics briefly the questionof individual styles;secondly, ticularrelevance: first, the workof one artist;and of stylewithin that of rapid changes thatofthenonfinito. thirdly,

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I wantto stress individual Regarding styles, onlyone singleasof the Middle pect. We can no longerdoubt that manymasters ones-oftenhad highly individual Ages-greatas well as mediocre manners of their own.How else couldwe ascribe withassurance ceroftheWestporch to thegreat of Chartres tainstatues revolutionary master and others to his pupilsand followers? Attributing works of of arthistorians, an absolute trust art,thenotorious pastime implies ofstyle without barriers oftimeand place. in theindividuality ofan individual theawareness ofit,the But theconception style, I believe, couldnot wishto developit in a definite direction-this, artists as historical existuntilRenaissance beganto see themselves in a newsense, to which thewriting of autobiographies, startbeings bearswitness. It was onlythenthatartists ingwithGhiberti's, were thepanorama ofhistory and makea considered able to survey choice No medieval artist couldhavesaidorwritten oftheir allegiance. what wrote about1460: "I ask everybody Filarete to abandon thearchitect he ofcourse referred to theGothic tradition themodern [bymodern, in thismanner. from masters whowork style]; do notacceptcouncil I praisethosewho follow the ancients and I bless the soul of in Florence Brunellesco whorevived theancient manner ofbuilding." The freedom of choicewas accompanied by a freedom to change. So faras we can judge,Renaissance artists werethe first to change from manner their one to another and not rarely considerably phase from yearto year.Without literary evidence and a highly developed of analysisit wouldoftenbe impossible to state that a technique greatmaster's works from different periods are actually by thesame of from hand.This is true manyartists Raphael on and particularly artists. Picasso'sability to switch a stylederived so of modern from to one basedon Greek from negro sculpture vase painting and sculpwellhowthefreedom ofchoiceeffects tureillustrates radicalchanges of style. a comparative The changefrom to a comparative stability moin a new approach to the training of bilityof styleis also reflected In accordance in artists. withmedieval workshop traditions, Cennini, in Florence his late medieval written after manual, 1400,advisesthe thatthestudent in order reader should follow onemaster to acquirea At theendofthecentury Leonardo reversed thisposigoodmanner. tionby counselling artist shouldstudy thattheaspiring notonlyone nature. butmany the masters, apartfrom By and largethisremained foralmostfourcenturies. In art of art education acceptedpattern historical jargon themethod is described by thewoolly term "eclectiit implies, in cism"which freedom ofchoice should bythevery stand, forindividualism as it doesin Picasso'scase. of style, fact,

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of artthe in thehistory however, thatforlongperiods It is true, to subservient was made it because illusory became ofchoice freedom which, following in by an arttheory oftasteandfenced a dictatorship in A levelling notion. imitatio as a central accepted theory, literary half thesecond during instance, for resulted, ofstyle theindividualism in Italy, the secondhalf of the XVIIth in of the XVIth century halfoftheXVIIIth in England.This led a man and thefirst France, bookof 1913,to and not yet forgotten like Clive Bell, in a spirited thatGiottowas at once the conclusion paradoxical the not entirely "forGiotto [he of medievalindividualism; climaxand anti-climax extinct." artwas almost noonoftheRenaissance, concepIn fact,theromantic againstwindmills. I neednot fight to style. approach openednew doorsto an individual tionof genius geniusnaivete, spontaneity, The romantic vocabulary-enthusiasm, of theRenaissance the guardians the academies, everything reversed had stoodfor.Blake passionof artas a rational doctrine discipline, that"Taste & Geniusare notTeachableor Acquirable atelybelieved artistof the findu and are bornwithus" and Goya,the greatest "may for theCaprichosthatan artist pleadedin theprospectus siecle, or movements forms and depict nature from entirely himself remove to thisdayhaveexisted onlyin hisimagination." which theseartists I am notconcerned to whatextent withthequestion and varichness But they fostered a great surely themselves. deluded of unpredictthe potentiality stylesand enhanced of personal riety the fervent romantic Moreover, changes. able and suddenstylistic led to in theuniqueness oftheindividual and theinviolability belief Even Courbet, byno meansa theconviction thatartis notteachable. "I cannot teachmyartnorthe thisopinion. accepted romantic artist, or,in he said,"sinceI denythatartcan be taught, artofanyschool," I maintain individual." thatartis completely other words of the peculiar also help to understand position Such utterances the greatinwhenthe gulfbetween the artsin the XIXth century was art production artistsand an entirely dividualist impersonal creative artists stoodaside, theautonomous, wider thaneverbefore: of the to thedeadening discipline had to submit whileyoung artists academies. into the The non finito affords perhapsan even deeperinsight of style.There are, of than problems processof individualization it appears we can check, butwhere medieval unfinished works, course, WithLeonardo reasons. forexternal thattheyremained incomplete a newphase,forit is nowthe enters thenonfinito and Michelangelo causes. result ofinternal thanexternal rather
claimed] heads a movementtowardsimitation..
.

. Before the late

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and existed between the conception Neverbefore had a tension of a work. But nowself-criticism, with the execution dissatisfaction of the inner mind image,the gulfbetween the imperfect realization thepurity ofthePlatonic idea and thebaseness between and matter, realization-often the subjectof Michelangelo's sonof its material works. from finishing someoftheir nets-prevented thesemasters maybe due thenonfinito Later,withRodinand so manyothers, thecreative decision to bring to an end at any to a deliberate process the roughly hewn moment choice, so that the torso, of the artist's are thefinished thesketchy execution thehalf-finished work, picture, ofself-analynonfinito requires a newform product. The intentional for has to develop a sophisticated theartist consis andintrospection, ifonlyhalfis said and so much troloftheact ofcreation. Moreover, cordbetween the workand its hiddenand hintedat, the umbilical In other of the words, the personality maker is nevertruly severed. in the work more demandasserts itself work and through the artist ofthehistory ofart. ingly thanat anyother period thelooseendsofthispaper,I may to tie together Without trying fornow we findthe yet claimthat we are back at the beginning; of his the publicto work, requesting artist, by the visual evidence himevenwhere he seemsinto his genius, to follow pay due regard that all he does is important. The sure in his conviction distinct, request has its withthisunspoken readiness ofthepublicto comply personality whichfirst raisedthe artist's rootsin the Renaissance upona lofty pedestal. Columbia University.