AUSTRIA.
11
Gymnasia, 1 in which this humanistic aspect of drawing was des-
tined to receive a more prominent recognition, thrust the question
further into the foreground; and the Real-Schools likewise de-
manded its solution, wlien their re-organization in favor of the
humanistic branches was effectcd in 1870.
According to a provcrb, all roads lead to Rome, and whoeter is
clearly conscious of his aim will reach it sooner or later. This
winged word is most frequently made use of in art, in which,
indeed, the individual element is generally more prominent than
elsewhere, although one common aim is striven for .by all, i.e.,
truth. It is different, however, with systematic art-instruction in
schools ; certain well-defined tendencies are to be realized here,
and fixed Standards are therefore an absolute pedagogical
necessity. Not artists, in the proper sense of the word, are to be
educated, but trained thinkers, who sliall have the faculty of con-
ceiving not only in time, but also in space ; and who, by practi-
cing art, are to be fitted to understand art. In shaping the laws
upon this subject, experience has always made its influence feit in
Austria ; and, in reviewing these laws from about the year 1850 to
the present time, we can see the plans of instruction becoming
graduallj' more definite, and we can trace the efforts that were
made to introduce unity into the methods of teaching. The last
enactment on this subject is dated Sept. 1, 1873, and contains the
detailed plan of instruction for freehand drawing in the People’s
and Middle Schools in accordance with the tendencies above speci-
fied. 2 As the main stress in this enactment is laid upon drawing
from plastic models, it must now be the concern of the government
to provide the schools with the apparatus neeessary for this mode
of instruction, — a point which was also emphasized by the “ Art-
Seientific Congress.” 3 The experience which has lately been gained
1 Real-Gymnasia are a combination of the Keal-School and of the Gymna
sium. The lower classes are common to all the pupils; but in the upper
classes a bifurcation takes place, one branch following up the aims of the
“ Eeal-School,” the other those of tlie “Gymnasium.” — Trunsl.
i Compare the report of the Ministry of Education on the collective
exhibition of Austrian edueation, p. 409, et seq.
3 The Art-Scientific Congress inet at Vienna in the early part of September,
1873, and was attended by about seventy delegates from Germany, Austria,
Hungary, Italy, Belgium, Switzerland, Spain, and England. After an address
of welcome by the Austrian Minister of Education, v. Stremayr, the meeting
