The Nude: a study in ideal form

484 Pages·1984·39.228 MB·English

by  Clark, Kenneth

Kenneth
Clark
A.W. Mellon Lectures in the Fine Art*
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*«l.uSO 0101
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DKUVEREDATTHKNATIONALt.AU-KRYOKART,WASHINGTON, D.t.
1952. CRKJ^TIVEINTUITIONINARTANDPOETRYbyJacquesMaritain
1953. THEnude: astudyINIDEALKORMby KennethClark
1954. THEARTOKscuLPTURKby Herbert Read
1955. PAINTINGANDREAUTYbv KtienneGilson
1956. ARTANDillusion: ASTUDYINTHE PSYCHOUK.YOK PICTORIALREPRESENTATION
by E. H.Gombrich
1957. THKETERNALPRK.SKNT: I.THEBEGINNINGSOKART. II.THK BKGINNINGSOK
ARCHITECTUREbyS.Giedion
1958. NiCHOi-\sPOUssiN by Anthony Blunt
1959. OKDIVERSARTSbv NaumGabo
i960. HOR.^CEWALPOLEbyVVihiiarthSheldon I^ewis
1961. CHRISTIAN ICONOGRAPHY: A STUDYOKITSORIGINSbv AndreGrabaf
1962. BLAKEANDTRADITION bv Kathleen Raine
1963. THE PORTRAITINTHE RENAISSANCEbyJohn Pope-Hennessy
1964. ONQUALITYIN ARTbyJakobRosenbert;
1965. THEORIGINSOKROMANTICISM by Isaiah Berlin
1966. VISIONARY ANDDREAMER:TWOPOETICPAINTERS,SAMUELPALMER AND
EDWARDBURNE-JONESbyDavidCecil
1967. MNEMOSYNE:THEPARALLELBETWEENLTTER.^TUREANDTHE
VISUALARTSby MarioPraz
1968. 1MAGIN.\TIVEUTER.ATUREANDPAINTINGbyStephenSpender
1969. ARTASA MODEOKKNOWLEDGEbvJ. Bronowski
1970. AHISTORYOKBUILDINGTYPESby Nikolaus Pevsner
1971. GIORGIOVASARI:THEMANANDTHEBOOK byT.S.R. Boase
1972. LEONARDODA\INCI by Ludwitj H.J
1973. THEUSEANDABUSEOKARTbyJac!
1974. NINETEENTH-CENTURYSCULPTURERECONSIDERED
by H.W. Janson
1975. MUSICIN EUROPEINTHEYEAR 1776by H. C. Robbins Landon
1976. ASPECTSOKCLASSICALARTby Petervon Blanckenhai^en
1977. THESACKOKROMK,MAY 1527byAndreChastel
1978. THE RAREARTTRADITIONSbyJoseph Alsop
1979. CI\ZANNEIN AMERICAbyJohn Reuald
1980. PRINCIPLESOKDESKiN INANCIENTANDMEDIEVALARCHITECTUREby PeterKidson
1981. PALLADioIN BRITAIN byJohn Harris
1982. THEBURDENOK MICHELANGEU)'s PAINTINGby l^eoSteinl)erij
KENNETH CLARK
NUDE
THE
A STUDY IN IDEAL FORM
THE A. W. MELLON LECTURES
IN THE FINE ARTS
1953
NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART
WASHINGTON
BOLLINGEN SERIES XXXV-a
PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS
COPYRIGHT© 1956BYTHE TRUSTEES OFTHENATIONALGALLERY OFABT
WASHINGTON, D. C.
PUBLISHEDBY PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS
PRINCETON,NEW JERSEY
THIS IS THE SECOND VOLUME
OF THE A. W. MELLON LECTURES IN THE FINE ARTS,
WHICH ARE DELIVERED ANNUALLY
AT THE NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART, WASHINGTON.
THE VOLUMES OF LECTURES CONSTITUTE NUMBER XXXV
IN BOLLINGEN SERIES
Princeton/Bollingen DeluxePaperback Edition. 1972
Princeton/Bollingen Paperback Edition. 1984
LibraryofCongress Catalogue Card No. 74-164124
ISBN 0-691-01788-3 (paperback edn.)
ISBN 0-691-09792-5 (hardcover edn.)
MANUFACTURED IN THE U. S. A.
DesignedbyAndorBraun
To
BERNARD BERENSON

PREFACE
Inthespringof1953 I gavesix lectureson thenude, as The A. W. Mellon
Lectures in the Fine Arts at the National Gallery ofArt, in Washington. I
have never spoken to a more responsive and intelligent audience, and I
should like to have given every memberofit acopy ofthis book as a token
of gratitude as soon as the course was over. But the lectures had to be
considerably lengthened, three new chapters had to be written, and at the
last minute my publishers persuaded me to add a section ofnotes. This has
meant a delay ofalmost three years, and I would like to thank the Mellon
Lectureship and Bollingen Foundation for the patience they have shown in
waiting for the book to be finished.
Consideringhow thenudedominated sculptureand paintingat twoofthe
chiefepochs in theirhistory, onemighthaveexpected asmalllibraryonthe
subject. But in fact there are only two general studies ofany value, Julius
Lange's Die menschliche Gestalt in der Geschichte der Kunst (l903) and
Wilhelm Hausenstein's Der nackte Mensch (1913), in which much useful
material is cooked into a Marxist stew. The fact is, as I soon discovered,
that thesubject isextremelydifficulttohandle. Thereisadifficultyofform;'
achronological survey would belongand repetitive, butalmosteveryother
pattern is unworkable. And there is a difficulty of scope. Since Jakob
Burckhardtno responsiblearthistorian would haveattempted tocoverboth
antique and post-medieval art. I recognize that it is imprudent fora student
of Renaissance painting to have written so many pages about classical
sculpture; but I am unrepentant-indeed, I believe that these constitute
the most useful part ofthe book. The dwindling appreciation ofantique art
dunng the last fifty years has greatly impoverished our understanding of
m
art general; and professional writersonclassicalarcheology, microscopi-
cally re-examining their scanty evidence, have not helped us to understand
why it was that for four hundred years artists and amateurs shed tears of
admiration before works that arouse no tremor ofemotion in us.
But although I believe that this attempt to revalue the once-familiar
monuments ofantiquity was worth making, I cannot claim that I was fully
qualified tomakeit. Thereadershould bewarnedthatmypagesonclassical
art are peppered with heresies, some intentional, some, no doubt, owing to
ignorance. FromtheRenaissanceonward I ammoreorthodox,buteventhen
Ihavehadtoentercertainfieldsofscholarship—Michelangelo,forexample,
or Rubens—that bear the sign: "Trespassers will be prosecuted."
In trying to find my way through these dense and intricate subjects I
have received generous help from eminent scholars and should like to
express my gratitude to them. Professor Ashmole and M. Jean Char-
bonneaux have answered my questions about antique art; Professor
Johannes Wilde has given me the benefit of his unequaled knowledge of
Michelangelo,andonallmattersconcerningthesurvivalofantique imagery
I have received much help from Dr. L. D. Ettlinger of the Warburg In-
stitute. On this last subject I must acknowledge a debt to a recent book by
A. von Salis, ylntike und Renaissance, which came to my notice when I was
already at work on the nude and amplified many of my own conclusions.
In the troublesome business ofcollecting photographs, ofwhich only about
a quarter have found a place in this book, I was greatly helped by Mrs,
Anthony P. Millman. Finally, I must record my especial gratitude to Miss
Caryl Whineray, without whom the notes could never have been com-
pleted.
K. C.