BEELDEN IN VEELVOUD

German version by Heinrich Ludwig of 1882. Yet I thmk that more recent,
French verslons of the beginning of the twcntieth century would have appcalcd
to him more. They were edited by the abovc-mentioned Joséphin
Péladan who, like many other contemporary mystics and symbolists, had
an exceptional aesthetic and historical admiration for Leonardo. He had
shown this already in his earlier texts on art and mystical writings, in which
hè also appearedas an advocate of the Ordre de la Rose + Croix+ Catholique,
proposing Leonardo as its patron saint.26 Péladan was no stranger to Kandinsky
who mentioned him in Ober das Geïsüge and who had paraphrased
a statement by Péladan, 'Artist, thouartking' (Artiste, tuesroï) from atext
of 1894 in which hè also rcferred to Leonardo.27
Péladan followed up his small anthology of 1907 of Leonardo's texts including
the passages on the depiction of the deltige and storms, by editing
the first annotated French translatïons of Leonardo's treatise on painting
and his discussion on landscape painting, that hè thought was a separate
treatise.28 This was, incidentally, the year that Kandinskydecidcd to abandon
the depiction of fairytale themes and turn instead to deluge and
storms.
The tone of Pcladan's introduction to Leonardo's treatise on landscape
painting not only resembles that of Kandinsky's writings; it also comains
similar aesthctic judgements. According to Péladan, no-one had summed
up 'the l aws of the pure landscape' (les lois du paysage pur) as wel! as Leonardo
had done in his treatise on landscape (includïng scènes of the deluge
and storms), thus giving voice to 'clemental life and all that is cosmic' (la
vie élémentaire et l'aspect cosmique). According to him Leonardo's treatise
taught us to reaüze the mystery and divinity of natura! phenomena. In his
short account of the aesthetics of landscape painting, hè thcn stressed that
a landscape should always be imbued with a soul, praising the classical
painters for this quality. In his view, they 'had such a deep understanding
of nature, that they have given ït a soul and a person, pcopling it with invisible
beings'.29 What rcally martered for Péladan was that each type of
landscape gave rise to a different kind of emotion depcnding on the light,
the colour range and the artist's sensïbility.30 Leonardo's text also demonstratcd
how wrong it was to think that landscape was an easier genre than
Tables et [...] histoires'. Kandinsky having toïled on his Composition VI
would have applaucled this. And in his description of ïts creation Kandinsky
too emphasized that making art is a matter of an effective organïzation
of colours and tones rather than figurative representatïon.
REPRODUCTIONS
As said above. Kandinsky's curiosity must have concerned Leonardo's
drawings just as much as his texts. Péladan's edïtions were nor much help
KANDINSKY'S COMPLETION OF LEONARDO'S DELUGE A_6l