But, later on, as he gains a larger conception, these things will
appear puerile if not silly. The time may come when he can read the
thoughts of the masters as expressed in their masterpieces. Then, and
only then, will he be able to define the word.
=Michael Angelo.=--At the age of fifteen, Michael Angelo wrought the
Mask of the Satyr, which would not be considered a work of art if that
were the only product of his chisel. What he did later was the
fulfillment of the prophecy embodied in the Mask. At the age of eighty,
he produced the Descent from the Cross, which glorifies the Duomo in
Florence. In between these productions, we find his David, his Moses,
the Sistine Ceiling, with many others scarcely less notable. He rose to
a higher and higher conception of art as he lived art more and more
fully, and his execution kept pace with the expansion of his conception.
He gave content to the word both for himself and for the world until now
we associate, in our thinking, art with his name. He himself is now, in
large measure, our definition of art--and that because he lived art.
=The child's conception of truth.=--In his restricted conception, the
boy conceives truth to be the mere absence of peccadillos. He thinks
that his denial of the charge that he was impolite to his sister, or
that he went on a foraging expedition to the pantry, is the whole truth
and, indeed, all there is to truth.
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