Christa Giles

196
Pater’s essay on Coleridge, published in 1866, he explicitly
identified the ˝relative˝ perception with ˝modern thought˝:
modern thought is distinguished from ancient
by its cultivation of the ˝relative˝ spirit in
place of the ˝absolute.˝ Ancient philosophy
sought to arrest every object in an eternal
outline, to fix thought in a necessary formula,
and the varieties of life in a classification by
˝kinds˝ or genera. To the modern spirit
nothing is, or can be rightly known, except
relatively and under conditions… 513
In their respective roles of author and critic, both
Wilde and Huysmans were attracted to the painter who has
become most identified with the Decadent movement.
Gustave Moreau’s paintings, with their elaborately jewelled
and decorated surfaces, their literary allusions and
obscurity, and their classical subject matter, deeply
appealed to Wilde’s and Huysmans’ sensibilities. Moreau’s
art was self-conscious, mysterious, and intellectual: art to
be read, interpreted. Wilde and Huysmans extrapolated
from Moreau what interested them. They particularly
emphasised observer response – the ability of Moreau’s
paintings to create moods. It is Huysmans’ celebrated and
extremely subjective readings of Moreau’s works which