Appendix I: A Familiar Treatise on the Fine Arts, Josiah Holbrook, 1833
This table of contents indicates what painting and sculpture topics the author considered appropriate for young readers and students.
Publisher’s Advertisement
The Design of the Publishers of this work is to furnish a familiar and entertaining account of the Fine Arts, Painting, Sculpture and Music, for young readers, and for the use of Schools in the United States. It embraces the History of the Arts from the earliest ages, with Sketches of the Lives of celebrated Masters, notices of their best productions, and remarks upon the peculiar style of each. It contains descriptions of the several schools of Painting and Sculpture, and observations upon the National Music of different countries, as Italy, Scotland, Germany, etc. It also points out the principles and rules of the Fine Arts, and will enable the pupil, after he has read the work, to think and speak with discrimination and propriety upon the subjects of Painting, Sculpture and Music. As there is no work of this kind in existence, and as the subject is of importance to the cause of Education, it is hoped that the undertaking may meet with the patronage of a liberal public.
Contents
Painting
Chapter I. Painting. In Babylon; Egypt; Greece. Artists of Sicyon and Corinth. Second and third era of Painting in Greece, with anecdotes of the artists who flourished in those periods. 9
Chapter II. Progress of Painting in Greece. Fourth era. Apelles. Notices of his works, and anecdotes. Other artists. Liberty and the arts expire together in Greece. 16
Chapter III. Painting in Italy. Greek artists at Rome. Dark ages. Cimbue. Giotto. Academy of St. Luke. Leonardo da Vinci. His career and death. 21
Chapter IV. Pietro Perugino. Michael Angelo Buonarrotti. Florentine School. Anecdotes of Michael Angelo. His death. 27
Chapter V. Raphael Sanzio. Notices of his works. His style. His death. Roman School. Of the Venetian School. Giovanni Bellino. Giorgone. 31
Chapter VI. Notices of Titian. Corregio. The Lombard School. Decline of Painting. Julio Romano. Parmegiano. Pellegrino Tibaldi. Tintoretto. His daughter. Paul Veronese. Andrea del Sarto. Anecdotes of these artists. and notices of their style. 38
Chapter VII. Bolognese School. The Caracci. Their styles. Anecdotes. Poussin. Domenichino. Guido Rani. Albani. Guereino. Caravaggio. Rapid decline of the arts. Carlo Dolci. Salvator Rosa. 46
Chapter VIII. Of the German, Flemish and Dutch Schools. Albrecht Durer. Characteristics of these Schools, with anecdotes and notices of their most eminent masters. The Spanish School. 52
Chapter IX. French painters. Cousin. Blanchard. Nicholas Poussin. Some accounts of his life. His return to Italy. His death. Le Brun. Le Sueur. 60
Chapter X. Claude Lorraine. Account of his life and works. French painters of the eighteenth century. Vernet. David. His works. Napoleon. 65
Chapter XI. First attempts at Painting in England. Illuminated Missiles. Of tapestry. Allegorical painting. Hans Holbein. His style. His life. Other English painters. Rubens visits England. Vandyke. Destruction of the Royal Galleries. 71
Chapter XII. Influence of the Restoration. Lely. Kneller. Anecdotes of these artists. Foreign painters. Notice of Hogarth and his works. 78
Chapter XIII. Wilson. His studies, poverty, death and fame. Reynolds. His studies in Rome. Return to London. Rising reputation. His wealth. Anecdotes. Remarks on his portraits. 84
Chapter XIV. Gainsborough. Anecdotes of his life. His compositions. Barre, the historical painter. His works. Anecdote. Character of Berre. 91
Chapter XV. Blake. His singular character and productions. Other English artists. Fuseli. He goes to Rome. His Paintings. The Shakespeare and Milton galleries. Anecdotes of Fuseli, and remarks on his works. Sir Thomas Lawrence. Present state of the art in England. Sir Henry Raeburn. Of American art. 96
Chapter XVI. Different classes of painting. Of Perspective. Of Invention. Science. Remarks upon various paintings. 105
Chapter XVII. Of Symmetry or design. Of drapery. Of Coloring. Chief Masters of that art. Of the expression of the passions. Of Costume. Different methods of painting now in use. 112
Sculpture
Chapter I. Sculpture. Its Antiquity. Three eras of sculpture in Egypt. Of the other Eastern nations. 123
Chapter II. Sculpture in Greece. Doedalus. Etrurian sculpture. Of the Ionian and Chian Schools. That of Magna Graecia. 130
Chapter III. Phidias and his contemporaries. The works of Phidias. His banishmint and death. 141
Chapter IV. Third style of sculpture in Greece. Praxiteles. His chief works. Lysippus. Successors of these sculptors. Fall of the arts in Greece. 147
Chapter V. Divisions of Sculpture in Italy. The art of Etruria. At Rome. Superiority of Grecian sculpture. 152
Chapter VI. Effects upon the art caused by the irruptions of the barbarians. The arts revive in Italy. Chief masters of the fourteenth century. State of the art during the two succeeding centuries. Florence in the sixteenth century. Michael Angelo. His contemporaries and pupils. 156
Chapter VII. Bernini. Contemporary artists. The first French sculptors. Succeeding artists. Of Spanish sculpture. sculpture. Of German sculpture. Of Canova. Of Thorwaldsen. Present state of the art in Italy. 163
Chapter VIII. Arts in Britain. Roman antiquities there. Efforts in sculpture till the reign of Henry VIII. Grinling Gibbons. Cibber and his works. Roubilliac. His works. Joseph Wilton. 171
Chapter IX. Of Banks and his Chief works. Joseph Nollekins. Remarks on his works and style. Joseph Banks. Anecdote. His style. 179
Chapter X. Of Mrs. Damer. Her chief works. Anecdotes. Faxman. His compositions. Anecdotes. Remarks on English sculpture. 187
Chapter XI. Science of sculpture. The Elgin marbles. Of style. Coloring statues. Works of Phidias. Proportion. Drapery. 195
Chapter XII. Manner of performing different styles of sculpture. Forming the models. Sculpture in wood, stone, marble. 201
[The third and final section, not reproduced here, covers music.]
Source: Josiah Holbrook, A Familiar Treatise on the Fine Arts, Painting, Sculpture, and Music (Boston: Waitt & Dow, 1833), pp. 3-7.