AMERICAN PREFACE. 
xlix 
The power which a great artist displays in liandling the teachable 
elements of art, and in producing Ins wonderful results, he cannot 
impart to any one: that is something which must “ exist in the 
man, in the subject, and in the occasion,” as Webster said of true 
eloquence. The great artist is distinguished, not for disregard of 
tlie preeise and teachable principles of art, but for bis power, for 
bis genius, in using them ; and that is something he cannot confer 
upon anothcr by teaching, not even if he were no less a teacher 
than artist. A great master may, indeed, impress upon the work 
of bis students, especially if they possess inferior powers, some of 
his own characteristics, making of bis students imitators, and thus 
founding a “ school.” This, however, is not true teaching, since its 
result is imitative, and not rational. An art-student should, upon 
leaving his instructor, be so well grounded in the rationale of his 
art, that he can pursue an independent course. With this power 
the students who studied under Agassiz left their instructor; 
hence they are turning out Darwinians, thougli Agassiz himself 
fought Darwinism to the last. It is not mere reproduction 
of the past that we want either in Science or art, but a rational 
use of what we have received from the past. As we increase our 
knowledge of the poetic art and our taste for poetry by reading 
Homer, Milton, Shakspeare, and do not care to have them fur- 
ther than this for teaehers ; so the main advantage to be derived 
from great artists must come through a study of their works, 
which can be collected in art schools, galleries, and museums. In 
this way they can teaeh, silently, most invaluable lessons. Yet it 
is not an attempted reproduction of these we want. Indeed, we 
want the art of no man, no eountry, no age ; even if we did, we 
could not obtain it in its essehce. What specially characterizes 
the art of any man, country, age, being a natural growth, the pro- 
duct of special circumstances, and not an artificial creation, is not, 
in its essence, transferable; and the attempt to transfer alvvays 
results in pinchbeck imitation. This fact they will discover who 
talk so loudly about French art, and so vehemently urge its culti- 
vation ln this country. Whatever tliere is generic and teachable 
about French art belongs to all art and to human nature ; that we 
want: whatever specially characterizes French art, being the pro- 
duct of French life, will always remain French and untransferable.