Critical Reflections On Poetry, Painting and Music. With An Inquiry into the Rise and Progress of the Theatrical Entertainments of the Ancients. Written in French By the Abbé Du Bos, member and perpetual Secretary of the French Academy. Translated into English by Thomas Nugent, Gent. From the fifth Edition revised, corrected, and inlarged by the Author. Ut pictura poesis erit. - Hor. de arte poet. Vol. I. (II.)
Vol. I: [T.p.] - The Translator's Preface - The Author's Advertisement - Table Of The Contents. Part I. - [Text]. - Vol. II: [T.p.] - The Contents - [Text]. - Vol. III: [T.p.] - The Contents. Part III. - [Text] - The Index - Errata.
References
L. Tavernier, 'Apropos illusion: Jean-Baptiste Dubos', in Pantheon, XLII/2 (1984), p. 158-60; C. Paisant, L'esthétique de Dubos [dissertation] (Nantes, 1981); H. Vigneau, Dubos, les lettres et les arts au début du XVIIIième siècle [dissertation] (Toulouse, 1976); R. Démoris, 'Original absent et création de valeur: Dubos et quelques autres', in Rev. Sci. Humaines, XL (1975), p. 65-81.
ESTC, N3253
Summary Note
This work was originally published in French in 1719. Nugent's is a translation of the fifth French edition.
Dubos's text is a consideration of how genius is differently manifested in different arts, how it has been perceived instinctively, and perhaps influenced by environmental factors. Following the lead of Bouhours and Crousaz, Dubos suggests that it is not reason but sentiment that is the best judge of art.
Volumes I and II carry publisher's advertisements.
Reproductions
An electronic reproduction was published in 2003 (Farmington Hills, Mich.: Thomson Gale). A microfilm version was published in 1987 (Woodbridge, CT: Research Publications).
Provenance
Acquired by 1802. Recorded in A Catalogue Of The Library In The Royal Academy, London (1802).
Copy Note
Inscribed in ink on the front endpaper of Volume I, '3 Vol. 10s.6'.
Binding Note
18th-century calf; rebacked in 20th century, red morocco spine labels, lettered, 'Du Bos On Poetry I (-III)'.
Subject
Arts - Poetry - Painting - Music - Art appreciation - Connoisseurship - Theory - Aesthetics
Treatises - France - 18th century
Treatises - Translations into English - Translations from French - Great Britain - 18th century