The Aesthetics of Grace: Philosophy, Art, and Nature

218 Pages·2013·3.57 MB·English

by  Federici

The Aesthetics of Grace
SERIES VII
THEOLOGY AND RELIGION
Vol. 334
PETER LANG
New York ∙ Washington, D.C./Baltimore ∙ Bern
Frankfurt am Main ∙ Berlin ∙ Brussels ∙ Vienna ∙ Oxford
RAFFAELE MILANI
Translated by CORRADO FEDERICI
The Aesthetics of Grace
Philosophy, Art, and Nature
PETER LANG
New York ∙ Washington, D.C./Baltimore ∙ Bern
Frankfurt am Main ∙ Berlin ∙ Brussels ∙ Vienna ∙ Oxford
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Milani, Raffaele.
[Volti della grazia. English]
The aesthetics of grace: philosophy, art, and nature /
Raffaele Milani; translated by Corrado Federici
pages cm. — (American University studies. Series VII:
Theology and religion; Vol. 334)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Grace (Aesthetics). 2. Grace (Theology). 3. Art, European—
Themes, motives. 4. Mythology, Classical, in art. I. Title.
BH301.G7M5513 111’.85—dc23 2013023716
ISBN 978-1-4331-2338-2 (hardcover)
ISBN 978-1-4539-1186-0 (e-book)
ISSN 0740-0446
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Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the “Deutsche
Nationalbibliografie”; detailed bibliographic data is available
on the Internet at http://dnb.d-nb.de/.
The paper in this book meets the guidelines for permanence and durability
of the Committee on Production Guidelines for Book Longevity
of the Council of Library Resources.
© 2013 Peter Lang Publishing, Inc., New York
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Reprint or reproduction, even partially, in all forms such as microfilm,
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Printed in Germany
Contents

Introduction vii

Part I. The Machine That Is Grace 1

1. The Setting for Enchantment 7
2. Theological Grace and Sublime Grace 17
3. Eternity and Ineffability 29
4. Metaphysics of Love 39
5. Ecstatic Visions 49
6. States of Grace 61
7. Canons of the Aura 71

Part II. Mythological and Religious Images 79

8. Graces and Furies, Heroines of Opposite Worlds 85
9. Mater Dolorosa, Mater Lacrimosa 95
10. Places of Apparition 103
11. Flight and the Wave 113
12. Zephyrus 121
13. Silences of the Cloister and the Garden 125
14. Contemplation of Nature 129

Part III. Forms of Representation 137

15. Beyond Beauty 141
16. Elegance and Delicateness 149
17. Loveliness and Resplendence 153
18. The Oneiric and the Marvelous 157
19. The Classical, the Baroque, and the Romantic 161
20. Critique of Aberrations 167
21. The Mourning of Art in the Modern Age 173

Bibliography 175
Index 193

Introduction

We could begin with 18th century and Rococo taste, dominated as they are
by whimsy and delight, to find the roots or foundation of grace itself among
the many meanings attributed to gracefulness. Alongside such extravagances,
we could then note the interpretative brilliance of some neoclassical and ro-
mantic minds that, at the end of the Age of Enlightenment, made this ancient
idea in myth, art, and thought relevant by interweaving aesthetic and theolog-
ical issues. I am thinking primarily of Winckelmann and Schiller who, in an
exemplary synthesis and with a passion for the past, described the many dif-
ferent faces of grace.
Discussing this idea in the Encyclopédie entry for the term, Voltaire
shifted the focus toward le gracieux, saying that grace does not indicate
merely that which is pleasing, but that which pleases from the standpoint of
feeling. He provided a historical reason for this: for him, Venus, the goddess
of beauty, always appears in the Greek imagination accompanied by the
Graces, who inspire the feelings of sweetness and mysterious fascination we
see in the figure, in her comportment, and her smile. Grace exists beyond
perfect proportions and architectural beauty because it inspires a special kind
of enchantment. For the philosopher, the charming and the small things are
definitely more inclined to grace than are large and majestic ones. What is
more, it is not always true that the opposite of grace—coarseness, wildness,
or aridity—constitutes per se an anti-aesthetic value. The Farnese Hercules
does not, in fact, have the grace of the Belvedere Apollo or the Antinoös, and
yet it does not appear coarse or rustic in spite of this. A work can lack grace
and delicateness, but not necessarily appear unpleasant. Even frightening
things, when depicted by the genius of an artist, can produce pleasurable ef-
fects of contrast. There is a grace in painting and in sculpture, as there is in
diction and eloquence. Its features are harmony, delicateness, smooth expres-
siveness of the parts, and amiability. There is also a moral aspect that invites
us to think of the grace of benefices and favors that we receive. In the imagi-
nation of the ancients, the Graces presided over gifts, harmony, joys, loves,
games, and communal feasts. They were “the tangible emblems of all the
things that could make life pleasurable.” Voltaire concludes his remarks with
a thoroughly Enlightenment idea, namely, that “those who dismiss mytholo-
gy as a fable should at least acknowledge the value of these pleasant fictions
that reveal truths, from which may derive the happiness of the human spe-
cies” (1981, p. 129).
Montesquieu also reflected on grace in the form of ‘le gracieux’ and
went on to describe the depth of its structure. His Essai sur le goût (Essay on
Taste) contains a paragraph on the je ne sais quoi, that is to say, the notion of
viii Introduction

a nature that is examined in terms of a whimsical reinvention of the pastoral
idyll, of rustic pleasures, of Arcadian sentimentalism, through the mediation
of the picturesque and the propensity for the eccentric. He also speaks of an
invisible charm that sometimes emanates from some people, which is impos-
sible to define, and for this very reason it is placed in the category of the je
ne sais quoi, based primarily on surprise, on which attraction depends; that
charm is not tied, therefore, to the simple beauty of form, to proportion and
symmetry. In fact, Montesquieu adds that rarely does formal attire possess
grace, while the clothing of shepherdesses often does, in a context of a rein-
vented Arcadia. In this way, in a quest for natural authenticity, we finally
come to appreciate the simplicity of Raphael or the purity of Correggio, he
declares. He likes the fact that these artists highlight something that remains
mysterious. The spirit that slowly emerges in a smile creates a splendid illu-
sion: something is kept hidden for the sake of shining a stronger light on it,
as though the effect occurs by chance. In this way, the surprise that originates
in the attractiveness of grace and that has nothing in common with affecta-
tion presents itself. From the smile we pass then to attitudes. Let us consider
Venus and her girdle, which immediately makes her appear different from
the imposing Juno, as well as the proud Pallas. Venus’ sweetness derives
from her ingenuousness and her modesty (aidos). Montesquieu comments as
follows: “[T]elle est la sagesse de la nature, que ce qui ne seroit rien sans la
loi de la pudeur, devient d’un prix infini depuis cette heureuse loi, qui fait le
bonheur de l’univers” (such is the wisdom of nature that objects that have no
value apart from the principle of modesty have acquired infinite value from
the time this propitious principle was instituted, which is to the benefit of the
universe” (1970, p. 89).
In the 1600s in Great Britain, John Dryden had already spoken of “poetic
grace,” locating it beyond the reach of rhetoric and referring to the sweet
mystery of the je ne sais quoi. After him, in the wake of these thoughts, Ben
Johnson would meditate on “inexplicable elegances” and Alexander Pope on
“lucky licence.” Each, however, expresses the ineffability of grace as a free
gift of divine love that radiates out in all directions, which is a topic that
dominates literary discussions across the centuries, where an analogy is
drawn between the noblest elements of poetry and religious mysteries. From
antiquity, grace has been the active contemplation of a gift offered by nature
and the heavens to make us divine, like the creator of that gift. Early on, it
assumes the form of an ardent desire for the salvation provided by Greek
wisdom in the face of doubt as to the existence of the divinity and desire to
exorcize this peril in various ways, to the point of exalting the myth of self-
sacrifice. In addition, precisely for these reasons, grace is the antidote to the
immense pain in history.