Strange Beauty and the Platonic Narrative as History in The Renaissance

Pater removed the word ‘history’ from the original title of The Renaissance (1873) for its second edition, and this chapter explores what Pater means by history. Although Pater was conversant with the historic method then popular at Oxford, which sought to contextualize its subject, he reveals a strong preference for depicting the individual genius of Michelangelo, Pico della Mirandola, and other Renaissance artists, beyond their historical conditions. Expanding his definition of the Renaissance beyond fifteenth-century Italy, Pater views it as a Platonic temper shared even by Johann Winckelmann as revealed in biographical narratives of ascension that are modelled on Plato’s Phaedrus and Symposium. The pattern of ascension is even evident in the charm and mystery of Pater’s style that refines from seen to unseen beauty.

Pater, Walter (1839–1894)

Walter Pater was a man of letters and art critic associated with the Art for Art’s Sake movement. Pater was a notably quiet Oxford don. However, in 1873 he published Studies in the History of the Renaissance, the conclusion of which scandalized his peers at Oxford for its perceived hedonism. Pater dedicated a chapter of the book to the German art historian Johann Winckelmann, who identified the underlying paganism in all religions borne out in Renaissance art. Winckelmann’s appreciation of male beauty and his assembly of youthful followers served as a model for Pater’s own circle of acolytes at Brasenose College. Pater’s Renaissance influenced a generation of aesthetes, including Oscar Wilde, who were inspired by art and criticism free from moral constraint. Pater advises readers to cultivate their awareness of worldly phenomena because experience itself is a desirable human end in a world of constant flux. Pater emphasizes the importance of experience in Miscellaneous Studies where he depicts man as tabula rasa, molded individually by happenstance. Marius the Epicurean details Pater’s theory of aesthetic experience. Art, by means of its strangeness, allows the spectator to capture an impression (a mixture of subjective response and objective quality) of reality that transcends the ravages of time and finite existence.

Classicismo e forma no pensamento estético de Schopenhauer

Tendo por base um exame do papel desempenhado pela noção de forma no pensamento estético de Schopenhauer, o texto procura avaliar o grau de proximidade existente entre este pensamento e as ideias estéticas do classicismo alemão, recorrendo, para tanto, a um estudo comparativo entre as concepções de Johann Winckelmann e as reflexões schopenhauerianas sobre a arte e o belo