Charles Batteux
Charles Batteux (6 May 1713 – 14 July 1780) was a French
Biography
Batteux was born in
According to P. O. Kristeller,
the decisive step towards the system of the fine arts [thereby to the modern idea, "fine art"] was taken by the Abbé Batteux in his famous and influential treatise ... [making him] the first to set forth a clearcut system of the fine arts in a treatise devoted entirely to this subject.[2]
The reputation thus gained, confirmed by his translation of
In Les Beaux Arts, Batteux developed a theory influenced by
For his work "La Morale d'Épicure" 1758 see A. Toscano,“La Morale d’Épicure” di Charles Batteux ed il principio del “secondo natura”, in “Scienze e Ricerche” n. 42, 1 dicembre 2016, ISSN: 2283-5873, pp. 20–29.
Strictly in Aesthetics terms Batteux sets the single principle for fine arts in imitation of nature, and this in terms of ideal of perfection to make a harmonious whole: "let's choose the most beautiful parts of nature, to make an exquisite whole, more perfect then nature, but never ending to be natural".[3] In this concept, clearly, Batteux follows a long tradition, present at least in Leon Battista Alberti; as well as for the expression of fine arts, present in Giovanni Battista Armenini and more back in Sebastiano Serlio.
References
- ^ a b c public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Batteux, Charles". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 3 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 533. This cites Dacier et Dupuy, Éloges, in Mémoires de l'Académie des Inscriptions. One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the
- ^ Paul Oskar Kristeller, "The Modern System of the Arts" (1951–1952), repr. in Kristeller, Renaissance Thought and the Arts (New York: Harper & Row, 1965), pp. 163-227.
- ISSN 0035-6212