PLEASURE (n.)

DILETTO (ita.) · PIACERE (ita.) · PLAISIR (fra.) · PLAYSANTIE (nld.) · VERGNÜGUNG (deu.)
TERM USED AS TRANSLATIONS IN QUOTATION
AGRÉMENT (fra.) · PLAISIR (fra.)
TERM USED IN EARLY TRANSLATIONS
PLAISIR (fra.)
CHANGEUX, Jean-Pierre, Raison et plaisir, Paris, Odile Jacob, 1994.
CHEZAUD, Patrick, GASQUET, Lawrence et SHUSTERMAN, Ronald (éd.), L'art de plaire. Esthétique, Plaisir, Représentation, Paris, Gérard Montfort, 2010.
GIBSON-WOOD, Carol, « Jonathan Richardson and the Rationalization of Connoisseurship », Art History, 7/1, 1984, p. 38-56 [En ligne : http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1467-8365.1984.tb00127.x/abstract consulté le 23/06/2015].
HECK, Michèle-Caroline, « PLAISIR », dans HECK, Michèle-Caroline (éd.), LexArt. Les mots de la peinture (France, Allemagne, Angleterre, Pays-Bas, 1600-1750) [édition anglaise, 2018], Montpellier, Presses Universitaires de la Méditerranée, 2018, p. 391-395.
LICHTENSTEIN, Jacqueline, « L’argument de l’ignorant : de la théorie de l’art à l’esthétique », dans MICHEL, Christian et MAGNUSSON, Carl (éd.), Penser l’art dans la seconde moitié du XVIIIe siècle : théorie, critique, philosophie, histoire, Actes du colloque de Lausanne, Paris, Somogy, 2013, p. 81-90.
LONTRADE, Agnès, Le plaisir esthétique : naissance d’une notion, Paris, L'Harmattan, 2004.
RIADO, Benjamin, Le "Je-ne-sais-quoi". Aux sources d'une théorie esthétique au XVIIe siècle, Paris, L'Harmattan, 2012.

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LINKED QUOTATIONS

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9 quotations

Quotation

Friend,
            I Am come to Summon you of your Promise [ndr : de lui raconter l’histoire de la peinture] ; and you may see by my Impatience ; that you have already made me a Lover of the Art.
                        Traveller,
           
I am glad to see it ; for it is no small Pleasure to think, that we are capable of procuring Pleasure to others, as I am sure I shall do to you, when I have made you thorowly capable of understanding the Beauty of an Art that has been the Admiration of Antiquity, and is still the greatest Charm of the most polite part of Mankind.
                        Friend,
            Pray who do you mean by that glorious Epithete.
                        Traveller ;
           
I mean chiefly the Italians, to whom none can deny the Priviledge of having been the Civilisers of Europe, since Painting, Sculpture, Architecture, Musick, Gardening, polite Conversation, and prudent Behaviour are, as I may call it, all of the Growth of their Countrey ; and I mean, besides all those in France, Spain, Germany, Low-Countreys, and England, who are Lovers of those Arts, and endeavour to promote them in their own Nation.
                        Friend,
            I confess, they are all ravishing Entertainments, and infinitely to be preferr’d before our other sensual Delights, which destroy our Health, and dull our Minds ; and I hope they are travelling apace this way. But now pray satisfie my Curiosity about this Art of Painting, and let me know its whole History.

Conceptual field(s)

SPECTATEUR → perception et regard

Quotation

Friend.
 
            What is properly the Colouring of a Piece of Painting ?
 
                        Traveller.
 
           
It is the Art of employing the Colours proper to the Subject, with a regard to the Lights and Shadows that are incident to the Story, either according to the Truth of it, or to the Painter’s Invention : and out of the Management of these comes all the Strength, Relievo, and Roundness that the Figures have : ’tis hard to give Positive Rules here, it depending much on Practice ; but the most General is, so to manage your Colours, Lights, and Shadows, that the Bodies enlightned may appear by the Opposition of your Shadows ;

Conceptual field(s)

SPECTATEUR → perception et regard
CONCEPTION DE LA PEINTURE → couleur

Quotation

Such is the Importance and Vertue of Proportion, that nothing can any way satisfie the Eye without the help thereof : So that whatsoever worketh any Pleasure or Delight in us, doth therefore content us ; because the Grace of Proportion consisting in the measure of the Parts, appeareth therein ; Wherefore all the Inventions of Men carry with them so much the more Grace and Beautie, by how much the more Ingeniously they are proportioned, whence Vitruvius saith, That whosoever will proceed in his Works with Judgment, must needs be acquainted with the Nature and Force of Proportion ; which being well and kindly understood, will make him not only an excellent Judge of ancient and late Workmen, but also an Inventor and Performer of Rare and Excellent Matters himself.

Conceptual field(s)

SPECTATEUR → perception et regard

Quotation

COLOURING
COLOURS are to the Eye what Sounds are to the Ear, Tastes to the Palate, or any other Objects of our Senses are to those Senses ; and accordingly an Eye that is delicate takes in proportionable Pleasure from Beautiful ones, and is as much Offended with their Contraries. Good Colouring therefore in a Picture is of Consequence, not only as it is a truer Representation of Nature, where every thing is Beautiful in its Kind, but as administring a considerable Degree of Pleasure to the Sense.
The Colouring of a Picture must be varied according to the Subject, the Time, and Place.
If the Subject be Grave, Melancholy, or Terrible, the General Tinct of the Colouring must incline to Brown, Black, or Red, and Gloomy ; but be Gay, and Pleasant in Subjects of Joy and Triumph. […]. Morning, Noon, Evening, Night ; Sunshine, Wet, or Cloudy Weather, influences the Colours of things ; and if the Scene of the Picture be a Room, open Air, the partly open, and partly inclos’d, or Colouring must be accordingly.

Conceptual field(s)

CONCEPTION DE LA PEINTURE → couleur
SPECTATEUR → perception et regard

Quotation

‘tis true there are some Kinds of Pictures which can do no more than Please, as ‘tis the Case of some Kinds of Writings ; but one may as well say a Library is only for Ornament, and Ostentation as a Collection of Pictures, or Drawings. If That is the Only End, I am sure ‘tis not from any Defect in the Nature of the Things themselves.
I repeat it again, and would inculcate it, Painting is a fine piece of Workmanship ; ‘tis a Beautiful Ornament, and as such gives us Pleasure ; But over and above this We PAINTERS are upon the Level with Writers, as being Poets, Historians, Philosophers and Divines, we Entertain, and Instruct equally with Them.

Conceptual field(s)

SPECTATEUR → perception et regard

Quotation

When therefore we are to make a Judgment in what Degree of Goodness a Picture or Drawing is we should consider its Kind first, and then its several Parts. A History is preferrable to a Landscape, Sea-Piece, Animals, Fruit, Flowers, or any other Still-Life, pieces of Drollery, &c ; the reason is, the latter Kinds may Please, and in proportion as they do so they are Estimable, and that is according to every one’s Taste, but they cannot Improve the Mind, they excite no Noble Sentiments ; at least not as the other naturally does : These not only give us Pleasure, as being Beautiful Objects, and Furnishing us with Ideas as the Other do, but the Pleasure we receive from Hence is Greater (I speak in General, and what the nature of the thing is capable of) ‘tis of a Nobler Kind than the Other ; and Then moreover the Mind may be Inrich’d, and made Better.

Conceptual field(s)

SPECTATEUR → perception et regard

Quotation

The Beauty, and Harmony of the Colouring gives Me a great Degree of Pleasure [ndr : dans le portrait de la comtesse Dowager d’Exeter par Van Dyck] ; for tho’ This is Grave and Solid, it has a Beauty not less than what is Bright, and Gay. So much of the Composition as is Good does also much Delight the Eye ; And tho’ the Lady is not Young, nor remarkably Handsome, the Grace, and Greatness that is here represented pleases exceedingly. In a Word, as throughout this whole Picture one sees Instances of an Accurate Hand, and Fine Thought, These must give proportionable Pleasure to so hearty a Lover as I am.

Conceptual field(s)

SPECTATEUR → perception et regard

Quotation

PAINTING is indeed a Difficult Art, productive of Curious pieces of Workmanship, and greatly Ornamental ; and its Business is to represent Nature. Thus far the Common Idea is just ; Only that ‘tis More Difficult, More Curious, and More Beautifull than is Commonly Imagin’d.
‘Tis an entertaining thing to the Mind of Man to see a fine piece of Art in Any kind ; and every one is apt to take a sort of Pride in it as being done by one of his Own Species, to whom with respect to the Universe he stands related as to one of the Same Countrey, or the Same Family. Painting affords us a great Variety of This kind of Pleasure in the Delicate, or Bold management of the Pencil ; in the mixture of its Colours, in the Skilful Contrivance of the several parts of the Picture, and infinite Variety of the Tincts, so as to produce Beauty, and Harmony. This alone gives great Pleasure to those who have learn’d to see these things. To see Nature justly represented is very Delightfull, (supposing the Subject is well chosen) It gives us pleasing Ideas, and Perpetuates, and Renews them ; [ndr : le terme Pleasing doit être ajouté ici, cf l’errata présent au début de l’ouvrage] whether by their Novelty, or Variety ; or by the consideration of our own Ease, and Safety, when we see what is Terrible in themselves as Storms, and Tempests, Battels, Murthers, Robberies, &c. Or else when the Subject is Fruit, Flowers, Landscapes, Buildings, Histories, and above all our Selves, Relations, or Friends.
Thus far the Common Idea of Painting goes, and this would be enough if these Beauties were seen, and consider’d as they are to be found in the Works of the Best Masters (whether in Paintings, or Drawings) to recommend the Art. But This is such an Idea of it as it would be of a Man to say He has a Graceful, and Noble Form, and performs many Bodily Actions with great Strength, and Agility, without taking his Speech, and his Reason into the Account.

Conceptual field(s)

SPECTATEUR → perception et regard

Quotation

That the Pleasure of Connoissance is a Virtuous, and a Useful one, and such a one therefore as is worthy the Pursuit of a Wise, and Good Man appears by what has been said heretofore. Wherein this Pleasure consists is what I am Now about to shew : Which will also serve as a Specimen of what may be done in other Instances, a Vast many of which I have observ’d are overlook’d and neglected as well as This :
What is Beautiful, and Excellent is naturally adapted to Please ; but all Beauties, and Excellencies are not naturally Seen. Most Gentlemen see Pictures, and Drawings as the Generality of People see the Heavens in a Clear, Starry Night, they perceive a sort of Beauty there, but such a one as produces no great Pleasure in the Mind : But when one considers the Heavenly Bodies as other Worlds, and that there are an Infinite Number of these in the Empire of God, Immensity ; and Worlds which our Eyes assisted by the best Glasses can never reach, and so far removed from the most distant of what we see (which yet are so far removed from us that when we consider it our Minds are fill’d with Astonishment) that These Visible ones are as it were our Neighbours, as the Continent of France is to Great Britain ; When one considers farther, That as there Inhabitants on this Continent tho’ we see them not when we see That, ‘tis altogether unreasonable to Imagine that those Innumerable Words are Uninhabited, and Desart ; there must be Beings There, Some perhaps More, Others Less Noble, and Excellent than Men : When one Thus views this Vast Prospect, the Mind is Otherwise affected than Before, and feels a Delight which Common Notions never can administer. So those who at Present cannot comprehend there can be such Pleasure in a good Picture, or Drawing as Connoisseurs pretend to find, may Learn to see the same thing in Themselves, their Eyes being once open’d ‘tis like a New Sense, and New Pleasures flow in as often as the Objects of that Superinduc’d Sight present themselves, which (to People of Condition Especially) very frequently happens, or may be procur’d, whether Here at Home, or in their Travels Abroad. When a Gentleman has learn’d to see the Beauties and Excellencies that are really in good Pictures, and Drawings, and which may be learnt by conversing with Such, and applying himself to the consideration of them, he will look upon That with Joy which he Now passes over with very little Pleasure, if not with Indifference : Nay a Sketch, a Scrabble of the Hand of a Great Master will be capable of administering to him a Greater Degree of Pleasure than those who know it not by Experience will easily believe. Besides the Graceful, and Noble Attitudes, the Beauty of Colours, and forms, and the fine Effects of Light, and Shadow, which none sees as a Connoisseur does, Such a one enters farther than any other Can into the Beauties of the Invention, Expression, and other Parts of the Work he is considering : He sees Strokes of Art, Contrivances, Expedients, a Delicacy, and Spirit that others see not, or very Imperfectly.
He sees what a Force of Mind the great Masters had to Conceive Ideas ; what Judgment to see things Beautifully, or to Imagine Beauty from what they saw ; and what a power their Hands were endued withal in a few Strokes, and with Ease to shew to Another what themselves Conceiv’d.

Conceptual field(s)

SPECTATEUR → perception et regard