Antonio Allegri da Correggio, his life, his friends, and his time . lilOGRAPHICAI. FALLACIES 25 misconception was due, not only to impciicct knowledge, but [)erhapsin a still greater degree to the old i)iographical methods, whichloved to represent those whose mental stature was above that of theherd as living in a world apart, and divorced from all participationin the life around them. Falling into an opposite extreme to thatof the classic writers who imputed human weaknesses to their gods,they insisted on treating their heroes as privileged beings, unaffectedby those passions which governed t
Antonio Allegri da Correggio, his life, his friends, and his time . lilOGRAPHICAI. FALLACIES 25 misconception was due, not only to impciicct knowledge, but [)erhapsin a still greater degree to the old i)iographical methods, whichloved to represent those whose mental stature was above that of theherd as living in a world apart, and divorced from all participationin the life around them. Falling into an opposite extreme to thatof the classic writers who imputed human weaknesses to their gods,they insisted on treating their heroes as privileged beings, unaffectedby those passions which governed the actions of their , poets, and romancers in fact treated them much as did. the sculptors who reproduced their forms and features in placed them on isolated pedestals, almost as if they alonehad lived at a given time and place ; and only when impelled bythe hard necessities of narrative, did they record that certain personsmoved in the same orbit as their heroes, and participated tosome extent, if not in their lofty genius, at least in their habits andsentiments. At thc! best, exceptions have been made to this method of treatmentin the case of women beloved by great men ; but even here it has beenthought essential to improve upon realities. Thus, many a petulant E 26 ANTONIO DA CORREGGIO damsel, and many a humble maiden, perhaps all unconscious of theirmission as inspiring Muses, have been converted into ideal figures,symbolic types of virtue and intellect, modelled on the pattern of aBeatrice or a Laura. If the great artists of the Renaissance couldmake themselves heard in exposition of their own life-romances, whocan say what they might reveal t
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Keywords: ., bookauthorriccicor, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, bookyear1896
