Ah. Now I understand. That is why there are no recording artists, and
the Academy of Recording Artists, and the Academy of Motion Picture
Arts and Sciences, do not exist; why theatre is not an art and why
there are no dramatic artists; why there are no performance artists,
why there is no folk art; why ballet and music are not art and never
will be; and why I don't have some degree or other that ends in "of
Arts". It was all so confusing to me before.

Of course there are two central senses of art, which overlap some. The
first and part of the second is famously well-described as follows:

"Science knows, art does; science is a body of connected facts, an art
is a set of directions... the directions of art vary with the artist
and the task. But, as there is much traffic between science and art,
and, especially, art is often based on science, the distinction is not
always clear; the art of self-defence, and the boxer's science- are
they the same, or different?"

The second sense, of course, is simply the following: anything that is
consciously made to represent, convey, or inspire an aesthetic
impression, sensibility, or feeling- these being things that have to
be understood on their own terms, just like e.g. the sense of smell or
the sense of equilibrium.

The part about being consciously made explains why in general,
photography is LESS of an art than e.g. musical composition, painting
or sculpture: a large portion of the construction is automatically
made, by machine (camera), rather than by the artist, who manipulates
instead relatively few aspects of the final work.

ART 1. Human effort to imitate, supplement, alter, or counteract the
work of nature. 2. a. The conscious production or arrangement of
sounds, colors, forms, movements, or other elements in a manner that
affects the sense of beauty, specifically the production of the
beautiful in a graphic or plastic medium. b. The study of these
activities. c. The product of these activities; human works of beauty
considered as a group. 3. High quality of conception or execution, as
found in works of beauty; aesthetic value. 4. A field or category of
art, such as music, ballet, or literature. 5. A nonscientific branch of
learning; one of the liberal arts. 6. a. A system of principles and
methods employed in the performance of a set of activities: the art of
building. b. A trade or craft that applies such a system of principles
and methods: the art of the lexicographer. 7. a. Skill that is attained
by study, practice, or observation: the art of the baker; the
blacksmith's art. b. Skill arising from the exercise of intuitive
faculties: "Self-criticism is an art not many are qualified to
practice" (Joyce Carol Oates). 8. a. arts Artful devices, stratagems,
and tricks. b. Artful contrivance; cunning. 9. Printing. Illustrative
material.

While one should never confuse derivation with meaning, the following
is nevertheless useful:

ART c.1225, "skill as a result of learning or practice," from O.Fr.
art, from L. artem, (nom. ars) "art, skill, craft," from PIE *ar-ti-
(cf. Skt. rtih "manner, mode;" Gk. arti "just," artios "complete;"
Armenian arnam "make," Ger. art "manner, mode"), from base *ar- "fit
together, join" (see arm (1)). In M.E. usually with sense of "skill in
scholarship and learning" (c.1305), especially in the seven sciences,
or liberal arts (divided into the trivium -- grammar, logic, rhetoric
-- and the quadrivium --arithmetic, geometry, music, astronomy). This
sense remains in Bachelor of Arts, etc. Meaning "human workmanship" (as
opposed to nature) is from 1386. Sense of "cunning and trickery" first
attested c.1600. Meaning "skill in creative arts" is first recorded
1620; esp. of painting, sculpture, etc., from 1668. Broader sense of
the word remains in artless (1589). As an adj. meaning "produced with
conscious artistry (as opposed to popular or folk) it is attested from
1890, possibly from infl. of Ger. kunstlied "art song" (cf. art film,
1960; art rock, c.1970). Fine arts, "those which appeal to the mind and
the imagination" first recorded 1767. Art brut "art done by prisoners,
lunatics, etc.," is 1955, from Fr., lit. "raw art." Artsy
"pretentiously artistic" is from 1902. Expression art for art's sake
(1836) translates Fr. l'art pour l'art. First record of art critic is
from 1865. Arts and crafts "decorative design and handcraft" first
attested in the Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society, founded in London,
1888.

And while we're at it:

PICTURE [Middle English, from Latin pict˜´ra, from pictus, painted,
past participle of pingere, to paint.]

noun

1. A visual representation or image painted, drawn, photographed, or
otherwise rendered on a flat surface. 2. A visible image, especially
one on a flat surface or screen: the picture reflected in the lake;
focused the picture on the movie screen. 3. a. A vivid or realistic
verbal description: a Shakespearean picture of guilt. b. A vivid mental
image. 4. A person or object bearing a marked resemblance to another:
She's the picture of her mother. 5. A person, object, or scene that
typifies or embodies an emotion, state of mind, or mood: Your face was
the very picture of horror. 6. The chief circumstances of an event or
time; a situation. 7. A movie. 8. A tableau vivant.

IN SHORT: Photography must be considered, albeit as one of the greater
technologies, as one of the lesser arts, which nevertheless SOMETIMES
RISES TO GREATNESS..

At one time, logic, physics, and psychology were considered to belong
to the field of philosophy. Now philosophy can only contribute to their
foundations, not to the disciplines themselves, although there is a
little overlap between the two.

The situation is much the same with aesthetics, which when mature will
be more a branch of psychology than of philosophy. Philosophy has very
li ttle more to contribute to the subject, while the scientific study
of aesthetics is advancing.

This is simply false. You are confusing the two senses of art. From a
vast selection of possibilities, consider the following sample acr oss
the ages, including both the 18th and 19th centuries, and the ancient
Greeks:

PRAXITELES
(b Athens, ?c. 400 BC; d Athens, c. 330 BC). Greek sculptor.
His career spanned the 370s to the 340s BC. He was the foremost Attic
sculptor of the Late Classical period (see also GREECE, ANCIENT, §III,
2(iii)(c)), son (or possibly son-in-law or brother) and pupil of the
sculptor KEPHISODOTOS and father of the sculptors Kephisodotos the
younger and Timarchos (see §2 below). Praxiteles' affluence is
attested by his practice of fashioning models for statues without
having to depend on commissions and by his expensive gifts to his
favourite model, the courtesan Phryne. An exceptional amount of
information is imparted by the ancient sources on his private life. His
elevated social position may well be representative of the status of
great artists in Classical Athens. He seems to have had some freedom in
choosing his own subjects, of which the Eleusinian deities, Dionysos
and his companions, Aphrodite, and Apollo wi th Artemis and Leto
predominate. He produced cult and votive statues as well as private
portraits for sanctuaries in Attica, Boiotia, the Peloponnese, Ephesos,
Knidos and Kos. The lack of Macedonian commissions suggests that his
career had ended before Ph ilip II's conquest of southern Greece in
338 BC. His statues were particularly admired by the Romans and many
were removed to Rome. Praxiteles' career is comparatively well
documented in the literary sources.

VIRGIL
Virgil was born on October 15, 70 B.C.E., in Northern Italy in a small
village near Mantua - probably but not certainly the modern Pietole.
Virgil was no Roman but a Gaul - the village was situated in what was
then called Gallia Cisalpina - Gaul this side of the Alps. Publius
Vergilius Maro, or Virgil, grew up to be hailed as the greatest Roman
poet. And although his work has influenced Western literature for two
millennia, little is known about the man himself. His father was a
prosperous landowner, described variously as a "potter" and a
"courier", who could afford a thorough education for the future poet.
This Virgil received. He attended school at Cremona and Mediolanum
(Milan), then went to Rome, where he studied mathematics, medicine and
rhetoric, and finally completed his studies in N aples. He entered
literary circles as an "Alexandrian," the name given to a group of
poets who sought inspiration in the sophisticated work of third-century
Greek poets, also known as Alexandrians. In 49 BC Virgil became a Roman
citizen. Lucretius influen ced his way of thinking, but his early poems
were written in the tradition of Theocritus.

After the battle of Philippi in 42 B.C.E., Virgil's property in
Cisalpine Gaul, or else his father's, was confiscated for veterans. "I
leave my father's fields an d my sweet ploughlands, / an exile from my
native soil," wrote Virgil later in ECLOGUES. According to some sources
the property was afterwards restored at the command of Octavian (later
styled Augustus). In the following years Virgil spent most of his tim e
in Campania and Sicily, but he also had a house in Rome. During the
reign of emperor Augustus, Virgil became a member of his court circle
and was advanced by a minister, Maecenas, patron of the arts and close
friend to the poet Horace. Maecenas was twic e left in virtual control
of Rome when the emperor was away. He gave Virgil a house near Naples.

In 31 B.C.E. Octavian won the Battle of Actium against his former ally
Mark Anthony, who had a liaison with the Egyptian queen Cleopatra, and
by 29 the way to power was open to him. In 27 BC he was given the title
of Augustus ('venerable'). He pressed his poet to write of the glory of
Rome under his rule. "I found Rome brick and I left it marble," he said
according to Suetonius. Thus the rest of his life, f rom 30 to 19 B.C.,
Virgil devoted to The Aeneid, the national epic of Rome, and the glory
of the Empire. Although ambitious, Virgil was never really happy about
the task. Moreover, he was a perfectionist, who knew the importance of
his work, and did not w ant to hurry with his lines. A contemporary
poet, Propertius, acknowledged this - perhaps ironically - with the
lines: "Make way, Greek and Roman writers! Something greater than the
Iliad is being born."

DANTE
Italian poet, born at Florence, 1265; died a t Ravenna, Italy, 14
September, 1321. His own statement in the "Paradiso" (xxii, 112-117)
that he was born when the sun was in Gemini, fixes his birthday between
18 May and 17 June.

He was the son of Alighiero di Bellincione Alighieri, a notary belongi
ng to an ancient but decadent Guelph family, by his first wife, Bella,
who was possibly a daughter of Durante di Scolaio Abati, a Ghibelline
noble. A few months after the poet's birth, the victory of Charles of
Anjou over King Manfred at Benevento (26 Feb ruary, 1266) ended the
power of the empire in Italy, placed a French dynasty upon the throne
of Naples, and secured the predominance of the Guelphs in Tuscany.
Dante thus grew up amidst the triumphs of the Florentine democracy, in
which he took some share fighting in the front rank of the Guelph
cavalry at the battle of Campaldino (11 June, 1289), when the Tuscan
Ghibellines were defeated by the forces of the Guelph league, of which
Florence was the head. This victory was followed by a reformation of
the Florentine constitution, associated with the name of Giano della
Bella, a great-hearted noble who had joined the people. By the
Ordinances of Justice (1293) all nobles and magnates were more strictly
excluded from the government, and subjected to severe p enalties for
offences against plebeians. To take any part in public life, it was
necessary to be enrolled in one or other of the "Arts" (the guilds in
which the burghers and artisans were banded together), and accordingly
Dante matriculated in the guild o f physicians and apothecaries. On 6
July, 1295, he spoke in the General Council of the Commune in favour of
some modification in the Ordinances of Justice after which his name is
frequently found recorded as speaking or voting in the various councils
of t he republic.

Already Dante had written his first book, the "Vita Nuova", or "New
Life", an exquisite medley of lyrical verse and poetic prose, telling
the story of his love for Beatrice, whom he had first seen at the end
of his ninth year. Beatrice, wh o was probably the daughter of Folco
Portinari, and wife of Simone de' Bardi, died in June, 1290, and the
"Vita Nuova" was completed about the year 1294. Dante's love for her
was purely spiritual and mystical, the amor amicitiae defined by St.
Thomas Aqui nas: "That which is loved in love of friendship is loved
simply and for its own sake". Its resemblance to the chivalrous worship
that the troubadours offered to married women is merely superficial.
The book is dedicated to the Florentine poet, Guido Caval canti, whom
Dante calls "the first of my friends", and ends with the promise of
writing concerning Beatrice "what has never before been written of any
woman".

LEONARDO
Florentine painter, sculptor, architect, engineer, and scholar, and one
of the greates t minds of the Renaissance; born at Vinci, near
Florence, in 1452; died at Cloux, near Amboise, France, 2 May, 1519,
natural son of Ser Piero, a notary, and a peasant woman.
[...]
At an early age, doubtless about his fifteenth year, Leonardo entered
Verrocchio's studio which about 1465 was the foremost in the city.
[...]
Under these conditions young Leonardo acquired the technique of his
craft, all the progress attained by the Florentine School about the
middle of the fifteenth century, but he gave to it a new value and
incomparable beauty. As Verrocchio's collaborator in all branches of
art he assisted in the preliminary studies and the preparatory
researches for the famous equestrian statue of the condottiere
Colleone. He was also admitted to the cel ebrated garden of the
Medicis, where they had gathered a collection of antiquities, then the
foremost in the world, and which they had, moreover, made a museum and
a school, or academy, of fine arts.
[...]
Leonardo was at this time thirty years of age a nd very handsome. He
was an accomplished gentleman, and had a keen mind for the invention of
fables. His contemporaries, for example the storyteller Bandello,
relate the charms of his conversation. He was a musician, being given
to improvising verses whil e accompanying himself on a lute of his own
invention, shaped like a bucranium and possessing wonderful
sonorousness. For the fêtes, ballets, and amusements, and interludes
of which the Renaissance was so fond, Leonardo was unequalled. At the
time of Loui s XII's entry into Milan a mechanical lion crossed the
banquet hall, halted before him a shower of lilies. This machine
Leonardo had invented.
[...]
Then he began see-sawing between Florence and Milan, finally taking up
his residence in the latter city w here he was called by a law-suit
concerning the property left by his father. In 1514 we find him at
Rome, but at the end of the year he returned to Florence; in 1515 came
journeys to Pavia, Bologna, and a last stay for some months at Milan.
Finally in 151 6 he accepted the invitation of King Francis I to come
to France and left Italy, never to return.

MARLOWE
Marlowe was born in Canterbury in 1564 of a family that originated in
Ospringe, today part of Faversham. His father, John, was a cobbler.
Christopher went to King's School, and was awarded a Matthew Parker
scholarship which enabled him to study at Corpus Christi College,
Cambridge, from late 1580 until 1587, when he was awarded his MA.

Like other brilliant students and writers he was recruited by Sir
Francis Walsingham as a part-time secret service agent. His literary
career, spent, as far as we know, mainly in London, lasted for only six
years from 1587 to 1593. Lord Burghley, Queen Elizabeth's chief
minister who, together with her Secretary of S tate, Sir Francis
Walsingham, was said to rule the land with the Queen as the Head of
all, was also Chancellor of the University of Cambridge. As such he
used the University as his recruiting ground to enlist bright,
patriotic young men to serve as secret agents. Evidently Marlowe was
picked out for this service, which was vitally important, in this age
of of Catholic versus Protestant political intrigue, an age of
political assassinations, directed against the Heads of States.

The Catholic plots agains t Queen Elizabeth were ceaseless, but all
were uncovered one after another by the English Secret Service,
skilfully built up under the direction of Sir Francis Walsingham to
become the greatest and most successful espionage network of the time,
with agent s placed as far away as Turkey to cover every exigency. It
was entirely thanks to the efficiency and dedication of Walsingham's
Secret Service that Queen Elizabeth led such a charmed life and escaped
assassination.

Marlowe's first important assignment a s a secret agent was evidently
in 1584, when he had 'proved' himself by successfully gaining his BA (a
hurdle many students evaded or failed), when his normally constant
residence at his college was suddenly interrupted by lengthy absences.
We have the in valuable records of the college buttery and audit books
to confirm this. The weekly one shilling stipend for the purchase of
extra food and drink at the buttery bar was not collected, and the
Audit book records all presences and absences term by term, cov ering
also the vacations, for the students were required to remain at college
all year except for the summer vacation.

The Babington Plot

Contemporaneous with Marlowe's absences was the plotting of the most
dangerous conspiracy yet hatched, the Babin gton Plot, which was
conceived at the Catholic Seminary at Rheims run by Cardinal Allen.
Students who were not Catholics were also admitted there, probably in
the hope of converting them, and the rumour spread at Cambridge that
Christopher Marlowe had gon e to Rheims as a Catholic convert. When
this reached the ears of the Cambridge authorities they decided to
withhold permission for him to receive his MA degree. In dismay it is
evident that Marlowe appealed to the Privy Council to intervene to
clear his n ame, which they did at once, and handsomely, in the
following letter dated 29th June 1587.

Whereas it was reported that Christopher Marlowe was determined to
have gone beyond the seas to Rheims, and there to remain, their
Lordships thought good to certi fy that he had no such intent, but that
in all his actions he had behaved himself orderly and discreetly,
whereby he had done Her Majesty good service, & deserved to be rewarded
for his faithful dealing. Their Lordships' request was that the rumour
thereof should be allayed by all possible means, and that he should be
furthered in the degree he was to take this next Commencement, because
it was not Her Majesty's pleasure that anyone employed, as he had been,
in matters touching the benefit of his country, should be defamed by
those that are ignorant in th' affairs he went about.

The letter is signed by:-

The Archbishop of Canterbury, John Whitgift.
The Lord Treasurer, Lord Burghley.
The Chancellor, Sir Christopher Hatton.
The Lord Chamberlain, Henry Carey, 1st Lord Hunsdon.
Mr. Comptroller, Sir William Knollys.

The Queen is mentioned twice, citing her personal interest in this
young man's attainment of his MA without hindrance from the authorities
who are 'ignorant of th' affairs he went about,' (quite a slap in the
eye for the Cambridge top brass!) and testifies that he had done good
service and 'deserved to be rewarded for his faithful dealing'. This
letter is unique in the annals of Elizabethan espionage records.

TIEPOLO
Born in Venice in 169 6; died at Madrid, 27 March, 1770. The son of a
sea-captain and marine merchant, who left behind him a considerable
fortune, Tiepolo married, in 1721, Cecilia, the sister of the painter
Guardi, by whom he had nine children. His earliest master was Lazzeri
ni, but his artistic career was derived from a careful study of the
works of Titian, Piazzeta, Ricci, and especially Veronese. Up to 1750
he worked in Venice and various places in the north of Italy, painting
some remarkable works at Milan, in Brescia, an d in one or two villages
near Venice. He then, accompanied by his son, travelled to WŸrzburg,
where he resided for three years, executing some magnificent ceiling
paintings in the palace of the archbishop. He was back again in Venice
in 1753, full of comm issions, elected President of the Academy of
Padua, and holding high distinction in his native town. In 1761 he
accepted the invitation of Charles III, King of Spain, to come to that
country to decorate the royal palace of Madrid. Unfortunately, during
hi s residence there he incurred the jealousy and the bitter opposition
of Raphael Mengs. He is the last of the great Venetian painters; his
works are magnificent in force, brilliance, and skill. As a draughtsman
and colourist, few have approached him; as an etcher, he took a high
position.

van EYCKEN
Painter, born at Brussels, Belgium, 16 September, 1809; died at
Schaerbeek, 19 December, 1853. He was the son of Corneille van Eycken
and Elise Cordemans, and as a boy was employed in commercial pursuits,
b ut from 1829, when his father died, he gave himself over entirely to
the study of art. In 1830 he became a member of the Academy of Belgium,
in 1835 gained an important prize with high distinctions, and four
years afterwards was appointed professor of dra wing and painting. In
1838 he went to Italy, returning in 1839 and resuming his
professorship. In that year he exhibited his great picture of "Divine
Pity", which was warmly received and brought him a gold medal and a
high position in the Société des Beau x Arts de France. He married in
1840 Julie Noël, who died 11 February, 1843. Two of his most important
pictures were those representing "Captive Christians" and "St.
Boniface", for the church of La Chapelle; but for the same building he
carried out no les s than fourteen pictures representing the Passion of
Christ and these were exhibited in 1847 and gained for him the Order of
Leopold. His best-known picture perhaps is entitled "L'Abondance", a
replica of which the artist was employed to make for the Prin ce
Consort of England, according to the instructions of Louise Marie,
Queen of the Belgians. He was intensely interested in the subject of
mural decoration, and studied every variety of it very closely,
preparing a long essay on the subject and a series of paintings
representing the Beatitudes, in order to exemplify his ideas in this
direction. He also gave some attention to sculpture and to designing
medallions.

BASTA.

I have a degree in philosophy, including two classes in aesthetics, one of
which was graduate level, I read the ultra conservative Scruton who writes
right up your alley, and I've read his detractors, with whom I agree.  No
where in my studies of aesthetics was it written or did anyone say,
including Scruton, that only drawing, painting, sculpture were "art".  No
where.

--
Regards,
Matt Clara
www.mattclara.com